


Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, or Being Human

by deliriumbubbles



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-27 16:23:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1717034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliriumbubbles/pseuds/deliriumbubbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post S5 "Mortal." Stripped of his powers, Clark juggles being human for the first time with the consequences of his relationship with Lex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Consequences. Causality. Events occur, which cause other events. Cause begets cause begets cause, and ultimately, an inevitable, wondrous result._  
  
 **July**  
Fury rose up inside of Clark, burning so hotly and so righteously. He never expected it to die so quickly when Lex dropped to the floor. His gray eyes were rolling back in his head, his face pale and fragile. Clark moved over his friend, cradling the man in his arms, rage forgotten.  
  
Dark bangs spilled into Clark's face as he looked over Lex, frightened for a split moment that he had done something he couldn't take back. Then Lex's eyes fluttered, and Clark fell back on his heels in utter, utter relief.  
  
"You scared me," Clark whispered.  
  
Then Lex jumped backward, looking up at Clark as though he were a madman.  
  
"Lex!" Clark reached forward.   
  
"You… You're bleeding," Lex murmured. He looked around the office quickly, almost in confusion.  
  
"So are you." Clark grabbed Lex's shoulder and touched the side of his head, looking over his face carefully.   
  
Lex scanned Clark's face suspiciously. "Clark, are you  _high_?"  
  
"Of course not." Clark froze as he spotted bleeding. "Lex, we need to get you to the hospital."  
  
"I'll be fine. You're the one behaving erratically," Lex argued.   
  
"You have head trauma," Clark snapped.   
  
"Because you punched me in the face six times!" Lex pulled away from Clark and walked around his desk. "Your concern rings a little hollow."  
  
"You… Lana could have been killed, Lex."  
  
"I have to say, Clark, I really adore how being around Lana incites you to violence against me. If she ever let you get all the way, you might even get to put on your big boy pants and choke me to death."  
  
Clark stood there in stunned silence at the level of bitterness evident in Lex's voice. "Were you involved?"  
  
"Insofar as you and Chloe broke into one of my facilities while I was in Washington." Lex turned and narrowed his eyes at Clark. "Clearly the first thing I want to hear when I return from a business trip. Of course, as your friend, I thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt before storming into your home and assaulting you for answers."  
  
"Then how do you explain being at Belle Reve when those mutants escaped?"  
  
"My father is being held there for observation. This may come as a surprise to you, but in spite of everything, I do care about the man. He's been catatonic since the last meteor shower." Lex touched the side of his head. " _Cum hoc, ergo propter hoc._ "  
  
"Come… what?" Clark paused and took another step forward. Lex looked like he might be about to pass out again, and if he did, Clark was going to take him to the hospital before he could resist.  
  
"'With this, therefore because of this;' Simultaneity does not prove causality. It's flawed logic, Clark." Bowing over, Lex closed his eyes. "She's poisoned you against me. I don't know what I've done recently to bring on such wild  _leaps_  of illogic-"  
  
"Chloe didn't poison anything-"  
  
"I'm not talking about  _Chloe_. She fished information out for you. She didn't tell you what to do with it," Lex snapped. "It's Lana. She's making snide comments about me to you, and  _you_ , without even asking for a moment why she'd want to diminish my credibility, eat it up. Why don't you go back to your little princess, Clark, and leave me be."  
  
"I'm not going to do that, Lex," Clark said softly. Lex hadn't yet wiped the blood from his nose; Clark hadn't yet wiped the blood from his lip.  
  
"I thought you were tired of playing games with me?" Lex stumbled over to his bar and pulled out the scotch.   
  
Clark came up behind him and put his hand over Lex's. "Please."  
  
Lex tilted his head and looked up at Clark. "I don't understand what you want from me."  
  
"I want you to get your  _head checked_."  
  
"I'm telling you that I'm going to be fine. And if you don't leave-"  
  
"Are you going to have security see me out?" Clark challenged.  
  
Lex paused, thinning his lips. "I might."  
  
Clark crossed his arms, waiting.  
  
After a moment, Lex rolled his eyes and sighed, looking for all the world like a petulant teenager. He reached for the scotch again, to Clark's dismay, and began to pour himself a healthy glass. "You can ease your guilt trip a little. I received a decent blow to the head earlier today."  
  
"And you think my punches helped?" Clark asked, arching a brow.   
  
Lex smirked as he raised the scotch to his lips. "Maybe."  
  
"You could have cranial hemorrhaging," Clark protested.   
  
"I'll take my chances." Lex strolled over to his desk, sat down and turned off the video. "Tell Chloe to check the guest list for our congressmen in DC. You can accuse me of many things, but I don't happen to have the talent of being in two places at once. Are you leaving?"  
  
"Not until you go to the hospital," Clark said stubbornly.   
  
"Well, I'm not going to the hospital unless you plan on tossing me over your shoulder and carrying me there." Lex sipped his scotch and picked up the phone at his desk.  
  
Clark pushed his lip out a little and squeezed his fingers. "Are you calling security?"  
  
"I'm calling Cook. If you're not leaving, and I'm not going, then I suppose we're staying. We might as well have dinner."  
  
Clark's lips cracked a little smile.  
  
Several hours later, Clark was watching Lex doze intermittently in front of the television.   
  
"You should go to bed."  
  
"Don't want to," Lex muttered. "It's early."  
  
Clark's rough fingers touched the back of Lex's head. He winced slightly. "Here? Is here where you hit your head before?"  
  
"'s fine."  
  
"You have a knot." Clark frowned and scooted closer. "It's funny colored. Kind of yellowish."  
  
"Well, so's your face." Lex opened one eye. "Seriously, though, I'd like it if you'd get some ice for that lip."  
  
"Says he with the shiner and the bump on his noggin."  
  
"Who says noggin these days, anyway?" Lex creased the corners of his mouth as he looked up at Clark. "Why are you looking out for me?"  
  
"Because. It's you." Clark had no other real answer.  


 

***

  
  
The next morning, Clark woke beside Lex in an enormous bed, flanked by pillows that made him feel like a small child in his parents' bed. He narrowed his eyes trying to scan Lex's head with his x-ray. It took him a moment to remember that he couldn't do that anymore. Instead, he watched his friend closely as he slept, and wondered if he shouldn't have been more forceful about getting Lex to the hospital.  
  
Clark was jarred out of his thoughts as the alarm clock screamed and Lex turned over, almost automatically, and turned it off. He slipped off the side of the bed without noticing Clark, and headed to the bathroom, stripping off his silk pajamas as he went.  
  
Clark arched a brow very high as he saw the pale backside swishing away from him. He ran a finger over his swollen lower lip and realized that what he was feeling was… Possible. Not like any other time when he'd been on Red K and wanted to slam Lex through a wall with his hips. He stood and walked over to the freestanding mirror.  
  
He knew he was an attractive guy. That much, Clark never considered often. It wasn't the way his facial features were arranged, regularly and pleasing to the eye, or the cut of his muscles, or the way his hair fell in his eyes. The way girls looked at him sometimes reminded him that humans liked the particular arrangement of his physical body. He was a dork, but a good-looking dork.  
  
No, it was that, underneath, beneath the pleasing skin was a body unfamiliar and unquantified. A body that no human should be able to accept. He felt, sometimes, that they should realize that there was something dark and dangerous beneath his pretty smile. There should be something off in his scent that let them know that they couldn't work together, like a wolf cub adopted into a litter of housecats.  
  
Maybe these thoughts were irrational, but Clark could only think back to all the times his parents had cautioned him, all the times that he'd been forced to pull back. Because he could control his powers, but how could he control his DNA? How could he control what was inside of him?  
  
Lex walked out of the shower at a brisk pace and headed to his walk in closet.   
  
"Lex?"  
  
The older man jumped and turned around swiftly, looking like he might attack the intruder in his home.  
  
"Jesus, Clark." Lex shook his head. "I forgot that you stayed over."  
  
Clark ducked his head and looked away. "I uh… Yeah, I wanted to make sure you made it through the night."  
  
"I seem to recall something like that." Lex disappeared into the closet, then called out, "Do you think I made it?"  
  
"You seem… fine. Um. I guess I should go home now." Clark flushed like a schoolgirl. It was a flaw he had come to live with.   
  
"If you'd like. You could stay for breakfast."  
  
"Or you could come over and let my mom make you pancakes."  
  
Lex came out of the closet buttoning up a garnet-colored dress shirt. "I'm not going to beg breakfast off of a woman trying to rebuild her home."  
  
"Your loss." Clark shrugged.   
  
"I suppose it is," Lex said with a smile. Lifting his wrist to eye level so that he could get the button there, he frowned slightly. "Are we okay?"  
  
"I don't know, Lex. I…" Clark slipped his hands into his pockets. "You know, after everything that's happened, I thought I knew what my life would be like now. I thought it would be easier, but things are more complicated than ever." He took in a deep breath. "I guess you can never be certain what will happen tomorrow, can you?"  
  
Lex looked up from dressing himself and met Clark's eyes. "You can only be certain of events if you have a psychic ability, and even then, it's a sketchy game at best. I believe in making my own future. However, you can best lay your plans, and leave yourself open to extreme possibilities. Look at every day through reasonable eyes, and nothing is insurmountable."  
  
"I don't know that's the answer I was looking for." Clark crooked his mouth to the side.  
  
"I'm not a fortune cookie. I can only give the answers that my brain generates at the time, not some semi-comforting platitude."  
  
"I guess not." Clark breathed in slowly, then gave Lex a soft smile. "We're okay."  
  
"Well." Lex nodded. "Okay."  


 

***

  
  
"I checked the records like you asked, Clark," Chloe said as she heard him enter her room. She pushed a chunk of blond bangs out of her eyes, momentarily reminded that she needed to either commit to the long locks or go get a chop, and swiveled around in her chair. "It looks like you were right. Lex  _was_  in DC. I'm glad we did some more research…"  
  
Chloe blinked in disbelief before discarding the file in her hand and approaching Clark with concern. "What happened to you?"  
  
"You should see the other guy. And by other guy, I mean Lex." Clark gave a sheepish smile.  
  
"…Clark, when I said you should probably go talk to Lex, I didn't mean talk, as in beat to a pulp."  
  
Clark rolled his shoulders and walked over to retrieve the file. "I lost my temper. He's okay, now. I stayed with him last night to make sure he was okay."  
  
"You punched him out, and then had a sleepover?" Chloe cocked her head to the side dubiously.   
  
Clark didn't speak for a moment as he scanned the file. "He wouldn't go to the hospital. I shouldn't have been hitting him like that, Chloe. I don't know… I mean, I've always had to pull my punches, and for the moment it felt good to just let my anger really  _flow_ , you know?"  
  
"Even us mere mortals have to exercise restraint," Chloe pointed out. "So he was in DC. Did he say anything about the feed to his office?"  
  
"Hm." Clark set the file down on Chloe's desk. "No. We kind of… didn't get around to talking about that. He was a little loopy after, um…"  
  
Chloe sighed. "Alright. I'll keep looking into it. Maybe it's nothing, but the way that went down was a little weird to me."  
  
"Weirder than Smallville? I have to admit, the fact that they came straight to me isn't the weirdest part. People in Belle Reve do kind of know me."  
  
"They should know Lex, too. And on the tape, it doesn't look like those guys recognized him," Chloe pointed out. "I got a copy and looked. Unless they're method actors… But still, it's just really odd that their shackles would just  _unlock_  like that, don't you think?"  
  
"It could be a fluke," Clark suggested.  
  
"Could be anything. Well, we'll see." Chloe sat down in her chair and leaned on her hand as she opened up her freshman folder for Metropolis University. "Well, if you don't have anything else for Chloogle to look up for you-"  
  
"Chloogle?" Clark shook with laughter so hard that he had to wipe his eyes.  
  
"-I have to figure out this housing situation. Met U requires all freshmen to stay on campus, which is… great. But I'm trying to convince the housing department that since I'll be doing this Daily Planet internship/work study that I haven't been hired for yet, I can do the apartment thing in Metropolis instead of Smallville."  
  
Clark sat on her bed and put his feet up. "You could get Lana to sign off as a roommate for you. Then the dorms wouldn't be so bad."  
  
"Er… I'll be honest, I've done the living with Lana thing, and the sting still hasn't quite faded." Chloe tightened her lips in a quick grimace before turning her head to look at the paperwork.  
  
"Why sting?" Clark lifted his head with surprise.  
  
"Why not? Look, we're all fine now, but when you and Lana started dating the first time, it was like I disappeared off the planet, and if Lana said anything, then I was automatically the bad guy. I didn't like it then, and it's not an experience I care to repeat. I'll take my chances on Met U's 2005 incoming class of freshmen."  
  
Clark sat up and pulled his left foot closer to him. "I didn't realize you felt that way."  
  
"Really? I was sure my torrential temper tantrums at the Talon and the Torch would have tipped you off," Chloe rattled off in a self-disparaging tone.   
  
"That's a lot of alliteration," Clark joked. He leaned forward when Chloe didn't laugh and folded his hands. "I don't think I was being a very good friend."  
  
Chloe sighed. "I don't begrudge you your Lana-time, okay, Clark? I promise I don't. But I hope you remember this time that your entire life doesn't have to revolve around your significant other."  
  
This was sounding suspiciously close to Lex's complaint from yesterday. Clark got up and hugged around the shoulders from behind. "I'm not going to forget you, Chloe. Promise."  
  
"Well. Good. I'm glad we had this chick flick moment."  
  
Clark chuckled. "I should get going."  
  
"Are you going to be in the dorms, or do you get an exemption because you work on the farm?"  
  
Clark shook his head. "I don't think calling in agriculture is allowed. So I probably have a roommate with everyone else."  
  
"Pity we couldn't pair up," Chloe said, pinching her mouth to the side. "It would save you time. Your information go-getter right there?"  
  
Clark raised his brows. "They have co-ed dorms?"  
  
"No. They have a gay frat. We could slip in undercover, and not have to worry about any of this."  
  
Clark looked upward with a frown. "I think that might raise further problems."  
  
"Might raise something."  
  
Clark laughed and kissed Chloe's temple.  


 

***

  
  
The clip of Lana's heeled boots hit Clark's ears keenly, and he turned from the papers he was looking at to see her rising slowly from the stairs.   
  
"I'm starting to think you're avoiding me. Where were you the other night?" Lana rounded the railing slowly as she kept her gaze fixed on him.   
  
"What? Oh…" Clark pressed his lips together and shrugged. "I said I  _might_  come over. More of a warning than a promise."  
  
"Why do I feel like you're keeping something from me?"  
  
"Wh- huh?" Clark turned from his desk where he was looking over the housing papers. He had to fill out his paperwork for an early move in/campus tour in July, rather than with the rest of the freshman class.   
  
Lana crossed her arms and watched him with a serious frown. "I wish you'd come over, Clark."  
  
"Lana, don't, please?" Clark stood and walked to her side. "Lex suffered a head injury when he was out of town. I had to stay with him because he refused to go to the hospital."  
  
Lana let out a little huff. "Why am I not surprised? About the head injury  _or_  the hospital?"  
  
"He can be difficult," Clark admitted with a fond smile. "But I'm glad he's okay."  
  
"Hm. He got me something. Sent it to me with this note," Lana muttered tersely. She reached into her bag and pulled out a hunk of meteor rock. Clark flinched back before he remembered that they didn't seem to hurt him anymore.   
  
"What did the note say?" Clark asked, gingerly taking the rock from her.   
  
"Said he thought I'd be interested in this. It's interesting, I guess. I've never seen a silver meteor rock," Lana said disinterestedly.  
  
"Neither have I. Just green, red, and black." Clark held the rock close, studying the way it shone. He wasn't entirely sure this was actually one of the meteors.  
  
"There are black ones?" Lana wrinkled her nose. "I don't know, Clark. I'm an artist, not a… meteorologist. I don't study meteors."  
  
"Meteorologists don't study- Ow!" Clark dropped the rock and sucked his throbbing finger into his mouth.   
  
"Did you cut yourself?" Lana looked up curiously before bending down to pick up the meteor rock.  
  
"It hurts," Clark whined.  
  
"Well, go inside and get a Band-Aid," Lana replied, laughing a little.  
  
Clark pouted and looked at his finger, which was red. He could see that something was stuck in the pad, but his fingernails weren't long enough to get it. "Ow!"  
  
"Oh, you big baby. Let me see." Lana set the rock on Clark's desk and took his hand in hers. "Wait…"  
  
" _Ow!_ " Clark exclaimed, jumping back from her pinching fingernails.   
  
"Stop moving!" Lana exclaimed in frustration. She shook her head. "Fine. Go put some ice on it, Clark. It's just a splinter, for goodness sakes."  


 

***

  
  
It was hot, so hot. Clark wandered the halls of the mansion, storming into one room after the other, trying to find the only friend he had left in the world. The last few days had been hell.  
  
"Lex!" Clark cried. He raked a hand through his hair and stood there for a moment, feeling the sweat trickle down his face. He closed his eyes for a moment, hearing his father's angry words stinging in his ears, his mother's laughter. He saw Lana smirking slyly, so slyly, her eyes creasing at the corners as she made her pretty lies.  
  
"Clark?"   
  
Lex's voice came down the hallway through the haze of voices. Clark turned to him, then rushed forward.  
  
"She's trying to take you away from me, Lex!" Clark exclaimed, curling his fingers around the slinky black collar of Lex's sweater.  
  
"Who?" Lex's eyes were wide and alarmed, no doubt remembering the event recently when they were in similar positions. He didn't struggle, however, just looked up at Clark and searched his face.   
  
"You know." Clark panted. Anger and frustration welled up inside him. He could see their lips pressing together, Lex craning his neck awkwardly to somehow close the distance from Lex's height to hers. "You know. Please, Lex. Don't choose her."  
  
"Clark," Lex whispered carefully, not breaking eye contact. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Choose me. Love me. Not her. Lana doesn't deserve you. Please, don't be scared," Clark begged. He pulled Lex forward so quickly that their teeth clinked together. If he let Lex go, the man might run away, might see inside Clark past the human illusion to the alien that lurked underneath, and Clark couldn't deal with that. He couldn't live if Lex couldn't take him for all that he was.  
  
Only when Lex began kissing Clark back, twining his fingers through Clark's curls, and petting his face, did Clark relax a little bit. He pulled back only to breathe, and met Lex's eyes yet again, and moved his mouth, although the words didn't make it out of the back of his throat.  
  
"It's hot in here. Smallville summer, hm?" Lex smiled up at him softly and took one of Clark's hands away from his collar. "Is this what you need?"  
  
"I'm scared, Lex. Everyone is against me. I can't take it if you are too!" Clark felt tears brimming in his eyes, and Lex squeezed his hand.   
  
"What do you mean everyone is against you?" Lex frowned seriously and pulled Clark toward him.   
  
"No, no, Lex, you have to listen." Clark sniffed. "My mom called me a thing they found in the cornfield-"  
  
"Clark."  
  
"And my dad hates me because I can't help them with the farm when I'm in school-"  
  
"Clark."  
  
"And Lana wants to tear you away from me-"  
  
"Clark!" Lex shook Clark a little. "Your parents  _love_  you. And Lana thinks I'm disgusting. She doesn't want me."  
  
"Not disgusting." Clark pressed his face into Lex's shoulder and let out a little sob. "My parents are going to sell me to the government to dissect."  
  
"No! God, Clark, no." Lex kissed the side of Clark's cheek and rubbed his back, trying to guide the large man with him. "Please, Clark, come with me, okay?"  
  
"Ow… Don't squeeze my hand so hard. It hurts." Clark rubbed his cheek against Lex's sweater and sniffed him softly.   
  
"It hurts? Why don't I…?" Lex looked at Clark's hand closely. "Oh."  
  
Pushing Clark's bangs aside, Lex tried to get Clark to lift his head. "Come with me upstairs, okay?"  
  
"Lana hasn't been there, has she?"  
  
"No, Clark. She hasn't been there." Lex turned Clark around slowly and started moving them toward the staircase. "You've been there, remember? Only you've been with me in that bed."  
  
"Only me?" Clark leaned into Lex's side, shaking a little as they made their way up and down the hall.  
  
"Only you."  
  
"What… What about Helen and the Lex girls?"  
  
"I got a new bed after Helen. And the Lex girls never came to my home. How can I trust girls who stalk me? Strictly hotel rooms."  
  
"I hate the Lex girls."  
  
Lex smiled as he moved them into the bedroom. "Do you? C'mon. On the bed, Clark."  
  
"I uh… The bed?"  
  
Clark blinked a few times. The room shifted, and he was looking up at the ceiling dizzily while Lex petted his hair gently and picked up the phone by the bed.  
  
"Don't call my parents!" Clark rolled his head over and looked at Lex with pleading eyes.  
  
"I won't. I promise. I'm just having a few things brought up." Setting down the phone, Lex turned to Clark and cupped his cheek.   
  
Clark couldn't keep track of the things Lex was saying, but his voice was soothing, so velvety and calm and beautiful, and he gave Clark sweet wine. He didn't even notice that Lex was holding his hand until he felt a pinch.  
  
"Unn!"  
  
"It's okay, Clark. It's out." Lex set the needle and pair of tweezers on the nightstand with the hot compress he'd been holding to Clark's hand. "It's out, see?"  
  
Clark narrowed his eyes at his red index finger that Lex was holding to his face and frowned. "It was in pretty deep. That… hardly hurt. My head feels funny."  
  
"Maybe it's the wine." Lex lay down beside him and began petting Clark's hair again.  
  
"Maybe." Clark looked at Lex dreamily then pressed his lips to Lex's again.   


 

***

  
  
Waking in Lex's bed for the second time in a matter of days, Clark looked around. His head was pounding and the room seemed brighter than it should. Morning had something against him. He pushed himself up and felt his stomach. Ugh, that wasn't nice.  
  
"Hangovers suck, I'm guessing," Lex said as he came out of the bathroom, this time wearing a towel loosely around his hips. "I've had alcohol poisoning, but oddly no hangovers."  
  
"How… What?"  
  
"It might have been the wine. I admit contributing to the delinquency of a minor wasn't on the top of my to-do list for yesterday, but when stoned out of your mind, sometimes a little wine will help you mellow out," Lex drawled, heading into his closet once again.  
  
Clark swallowed, looking around himself. He was wearing a pair of red silk pajamas. He wondered where his clothes were.  
  
"I was stoned?"  
  
"Like a flower child. Though it wasn't through the traditional means." Lex came out of the closet. "You had a sliver of a meteor rock under your skin."  
  
Clark looked down at his hand and blinked at the Hello Kitty Band-Aid.  
  
"I had to use a needle and tweezers to get it out." Lex grimaced. "That may hurt for awhile. You should probably call your parents, by the way. I'm going to guess that you didn't let them know where you were running off to."  
  
Clark nodded and swung his feet over the side of the bed. "Did… we…?"  
  
"Did we what?" Lex folded his collar properly and began to fix his tie.  
  
"Um." Clark closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "We were kissing."  
  
"…Yes, Clark. We kissed. That happens sometimes when you are intoxicated, even by extra-terrestrial means." Lex kept his voice light as he walked over to the bed with his shoes and socks.  
  
Clark sat with his back to Lex, looking down at the red pajama bottoms.  
  
"It's alright, Clark. We're still friends," Lex said in his best avoidant, noncommittal tone.  
  
If it hadn't been for that tone, Clark might have picked up his clothes and left. Instead, he stood and walked around the side of the bed. Lex lifted his chin slightly and frowned up at Clark.  
  
"I didn't take advantage of you, Clark. I wouldn't do that."  
  
"I know. You… I don't know what that was, Lex, but it felt awful." Clark leaned over, watching Lex's eyes.  
  
"I had the bit of the meteor rock sent to the lab. Hopefully we'll be able to determine whether there will be any other consequences of your exposure to-"  
  
"Shut up, Lex," Clark ordered. He pressed his hands to either side of Lex's face and kissed him forcefully.   
  
When they broke apart, Lex seemed a bit dazed. "How do you feel, Clark?"  
  
"I'm not high, Lex."  
  
Clark kissed him again, then pushed Lex back onto the bed. Lex didn't resist as Clark began to loosen his tie, and with a smile, Lex's hands moved down the front of Clark's pajamas.   
  
Once relieved of their clothes, Clark really had no idea what to do. He'd never had sex before, but Lex seemed much more certain, rolling them over and beginning to cover every inch of Clark's sun-kissed skin with his mouth. Clark shuddered as Lex went lower.  
  
Lex paused a moment and kissed Clark's inner thigh. "Are you sure, Clark?"  
  
Clark wasn't, but he made a noise and nodded his head quickly. He knew he didn't want Lex to stop.  


 

***

  
  
"Clark!" Martha exclaimed as Clark came through the kitchen door. She rushed him to give her son a big hug and a kiss. "You had us worried sick!"  
  
"I'm fine, Mom." Clark hugged her back and looked up as Chloe and his father rushed into the room.   
  
"What happened?" Jonathan asked.  
  
Chloe stepped forward. "We thought the meteor rock that Lex sent Lana-"  
  
"Lex didn't send that. Not his handwriting. And anyway, I went to him last night. He got the splinter out." Clark shrugged. "It was the rock, though."  
  
"You went to  _Lex_?" Jonathan demanded.  
  
"Yeah, I went to Lex, and he got it out and gave me a bed for the night." Clark ruffled his hair. "Lex helped me—no questions asked. You need to lay off of him."  
  
"Then who sent the rock?" Chloe wondered. She crossed her arms. "I wish you'd called. We were searching everywhere for you."  
  
"Not everywhere, obviously," Clark muttered. "I don't know who sent it, but they had to have known what would happen. You think?"  
  
Chloe sighed. "I don't know. Look, are you ready to go?"  
  
"Where?" Clark frowned.  
  
Chloe leaned forward a little. "Freshman Preview? We were planning to leave about two hours ago?"   
  
"Preview? Oh!" Clark ran upstairs to get changed.  


 

***

  
  
Clark walked with Chloe through the crowd of incoming freshmen toward the large auditorium where the initiation was occurring. He fumbled with the folder he'd gotten in the line they'd had to go through before following the crowd of students, and looked around nervously. Chloe was too excited by all of this to be normal. She babbled on about all the classes they could try, and the interesting books they would be reading, and apparently she'd had the opportunity to interview some of the professors each year for an spring editorial to get the graduating seniors motivated about their new 'adventure' in college.  
  
All Clark felt was butterflies in his stomach.  
  
"This isn't so bad," Clark commented as they managed to get a seat at the back of the auditorium. He rubbed the side of his head and sighed.   
  
"Yeah, if you have telescope vision. Oh, well. I guess this won't be the important part." Chloe straightened her collar and craned her neck to see over the tall fellow in front of her.  
  
"Why are you so dressed up?"  
  
"I have an interview during the break. With The Daily Planet." Chloe sighed softly. "I hope I get the internship, but I don't know."  
  
"Are you kidding? They'll be lucky to get you." Clark raised a brow at her. It was hard to imagine The Planet refusing Chloe.  
  
"They're not fond of me, Clark. My deal with Lionel rubbed a lot of people the wrong way." Chloe twisted her fingers. "I've published a few things under Lois's name, and she doesn't mind, but…"  
  
Clark reached over and squeezed Chloe's shoulders. "I don't see Lana?"  
  
"She decided not to come. Um, has she talked to you about New York?"  
  
"New York?"   
  
Chloe kept her eyes on the stage. "She just got accepted to an art school in New York."  
  
"She didn't even tell me she was applying!"  
  
There were several speakers before the head of the University College came up to talk to them. She was a young looking woman with a head full of gray hair, who put her hands on her hips and directed the Gateway teachers to stand at the front of the auditorium holding a colored flag. Clark looked down at his folder, and saw that his small flag was a different color than Chloe's purple flag, and had "H-L" printed across the front.   
  
"Why don't we have the same flag?" Clark asked.  
  
"Because I've declared journalism as a major. Actually, I'll probably double-majoring, but I wanted to get to know the other people in my class, since obviously journalism is the focus." Chloe looked at Clark's folder. She pointed to Clark's red flag, then up to a teacher to the side. "You're undeclared, so you're over there."  
  
"We won't be in the same class?"  
  
"No. I told you to declare journalism. You could always declare a different major later if you change your mind. If I wrote down 'undeclared,' we still wouldn't be in the same class because S is so far from K," Chloe explained in a reasonable tone.  
  
"You just want me in your journalism classes," Clark accused with a smile.  
  
Chloe leaned her head back. "Yes, I  _dooo_."  
  
Clark laughed and stood with her as the other students sorted themselves into line. "So I won't even see you at lunch?"  
  
"No. Well, not for the first couple of days. I have to get my work study in order. Paperwork and stuff. If I get the job today, we could have lunch tomorrow."  
  
Clark nodded, thinking that he should get on finding a job himself, but he didn't know how he'd be able to help his dad at the farm without his powers and still work a job.  


 

***

  
  
There were nineteen students in the classroom. Clark slipped in the back. Instead of normal desks like in high school, there were several tables where two students could sit each. The chairs were attached to the floor, but could swivel, so Clark set his backpack on the floor, set out his folder and a notepad, and swiveled back and forth as he waited for the class to start.   
  
The "Gateway" portion of preview was a shorter, and cheaper, version of a first semester course that the University College offered ostensibly to help transition students from high school to college. Jonathan seemed to believe that it was a means to get parents to pay for an extra class in tuition. 'Preview' overall only cost fifty dollars, so Clark's parents had agreed to have him do this instead of wasting an entire semester in the class.   
  
As the course packet was passed out and Clark began to flip through it, he sort of agreed that this might be a waste of time. The instructor began to speak, and Clark tapped the end of his pen on the front of his packet.  
  
 _A rough, broad tongue lapped over Clark's sensitive skin, lavishly bathing him, then exploring, digging deeper…_  
  
"It's your turn." The redheaded girl next to him poked his side. When Clark blinked dumbly, she whispered, "Name, etc.? It's on the board."  
  
"Oh, uh…" Clark squinted at the board, thinking he might need some glasses as a human, and followed the list of things he was supposed to tell about himself. "Um, I'm Clark Kent. I'm from Smallville. That's like two hours away. The name is kind of all the description you need."  
  
A few people chuckled. Clark didn't see anyone he recognized in the group.   
  
"I'm undeclared, but thinking about majoring in maybe journalism. And um…" Clark frowned, looking at the next item on the list: 'Something interesting about you.'  
  
Clark tilted his head and thought about that one.   
  
 _I'm an alien from another planet without any powers?  
I lost my virginity this morning.  
I have an ice palace in the arctic._  
  
"Uh, my family owns a farm, and I've worked on it since I was a kid," Clark offered.  
  
"Oh, that's neat," his instructor said with a smile.  
  
"Nice, farmboy," said a tall, big-boned guy across the room.   
  
"Right, go on," the instructor encouraged.  
  
"Okay, uh, I guess I like alternative rock, and some classical music. My favorite book is  _Native Son_ , and um… if I could be an animal, I'd be a… dog. Like a lab, or something."  
  
The guy who had spoken before howled. Their instructor hushed them.   
  
"Alright, what I want to talk about right now is  _expectations_! We all come into college with expectations of what's going to happen, so why don't you shoot some of your expectations at me, and we can talk about them." She approached the board and began writing people's responses on it.   
  
Clark sighed and started to daydream again.  
  
 _Clark's eyes widened as he felt himself stretching around the hard, thick shaft moving slowly into him. Lex's hands cradled Clark's body tenderly, and he pressed their lips together over and over. At no moment did Clark have reason to think that Lex considered him anything but precious, and at no moment did he doubt that Lex had been thinking about this for a long, long time._  
  
When the group got up to go on a campus tour, Clark sighed and picked up his bag. This was going to be a long four weeks.  


 

***

  
  
Clark spotted Chloe at the end of the day, sitting on one of the covered tables outside of the Union and moodily sucking on a chocolate shake while picking at a plate of curly fries.  
  
"Hey, Chlo." Clark walked straight up to her table and sat down across from her. He stole a fry. "I take it your day has been great."  
  
"I'm not getting into The Daily Planet while that woman is editor. There's no way. Well, there's no ethical way, and I've done the easy way thing, and look how that turned out," Chloe said quietly.  
  
"Well, there's more than one newspaper in Metropolis," Clark said with some forced cheerfulness. How did you talk someone down from losing their dream? "I bet Lex could still get you something at The Inquisitor-"  
  
"I am  _not_  a tabloid reporter, Clark!" Chloe snapped. She wiped her cheek and sighed. "I scheduled an interview with The Metropolis Journal tomorrow. Maybe they won't hate me."  
  
"The Daily Planet doesn't hate you, Chloe-"  
  
"Yeah, they do. You weren’t there. They had a cake in the office when I got fired. I know my local editor didn't hate me, and the chief editor at the time seemed interested in a younger perspective at The Daily Planet, just for a small monthly column…" Chloe raked a hand through her hair. "I'm not giving up. The Daily Planet is the best, and I'm going to get there, no matter what it takes. The hard way this time. But I'm going to get there, Clark."  
  
Clark took her hand and squeezed it. "That's the Sullivan I know."  
  
Chloe gave Clark a little smile.  
  
"So where can I get a chocolate shake?"  


 

***

  
  
That evening, Clark returned to the temporary dorms where they would be staying during Preview before being sorted into regular dorms with everyone else. With a heavy sigh, he jogged up the stairs. He wanted to go visit his parents, and he really wanted to see Lex.   
  
 _"Why now?" Clark asked, looking up at Lex. He had rested his head on Lex's hairless chest and was still breathing heavily.  
  
"Because you let me. Because you're legal now." Lex's eyes were over brimming with affection as they met Clark's._  
  
A few of the guys were slapping each other's arms and backs as the settled into their rooms. Clark looked behind him, then opened his door.  
  
"Farmboy!" a boisterous voice exclaimed.   
  
Clark's face fell. "Uh, hi."  
  
The young man got up, and Clark realized that he was about as tall as Clark himself. And that was tall. They shook hands roughly and then Clark's roommate pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He didn't light up, though.   
  
"Guess they think we'll feel more like sticking around if we get to know people before school starts. Not that it'll matter, if we rush." He dropped down on the bed on the left side of the room. Although big boned, he was fairly lean. His face was somewhat apple-shaped and had high cheekbones. His hair, a long straight mane of tough black, was tied back at the nape of his neck.  
  
"Rush? Oh. Well, I probably won't be doing any Greek stuff. My friend told me all the skull and bones stuff they do, and I don't have time for that," Clark said. He set his bag down on the other bed and looked around.   
  
"You think Met U has secret societies like Harvard or Princeton? I dunno." He shook his head and shrugged. "I'm gonna go outside for a smoke, farmboy. You wanna come?"  
  
"My name's Clark. And I don't smoke."  
  
"Charlie," his roommate replied. "See ya in a few."  
  
The big guy stood and headed out. Clark sat on his bed and looked around, feeling odd to be in a room that was so uncluttered. He wouldn't even be here after Preview. He'd be assigned a real dorm after about two weeks break, and then that would be it. This small space would be his and Charlie's home for most of the school year.  
  
Clark flopped back on his bed and pulled his phone out. After staring at it for a moment, he dialed Lex's number.  
  
"Clark?" Lex sounded pleased. "I didn't realize you'd be leaving today."  
  
"Sorry, it slipped my mind. Chloe and I just decided to do this last week."  
  
"I'd think with that meteor rock affecting you, it wouldn't be the first thing you wanted to share," Lex said with a bit of amusement. "How was it?"  
  
"Kind of boring. My roommate calls me 'farmboy.'"  
  
"Well, that's unfair." Lex paused. "I'm supposed to call you farmboy."  
  
Clark laughed and bit his lip. "I didn't mean to run away after… this morning."  
  
"It's okay, Clark. I uh… maybe a little bit of space is good."   
  
Clark took in a sharp breath. Lex sounded nervous, though.   
  
"Why?"  
  
"We… This happened so suddenly. Maybe a step back would be beneficial. I don't want to smother you. Anyway, I work in Metropolis. You go to school there. Surely we can meet up?"  
  
"You think you'll smother me?"  
  
"I have a bad habit of that. Consider yourself lucky that you got out the door."  
  
"Heh. I had to let my parents know I was okay. Did you find anything else about that meteor rock?"  
  
"Not much. From the sliver I took from you, I've determined that the composition of the rock is similar to the other meteors, but it doesn't emit the same kind of radiation that the green ones do. That's what makes them dangerous."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"And I'd imagine that when in contact with solar radiation, the mixture changes. I'd have to do more research. I don't know. Want me to keep you updated?"  
  
"For sure. Oh, um. Lex?"  
  
"What is it, Clark?"  
  
"Do you know of anyone who would send that rock to Lana? Someone gave it to her, but they signed your name on the card."  
  
Lex was quiet for a moment. "That's strange."  
  
"Yeah. I know. I told them it couldn't be yours, because I know your handwriting. I just don't know who would be jerking around with us like that."  
  
"You think that someone meant for Lana to get infected with that?"  
  
"I don't know that it would have made her react the same way," Clark mused. They were quiet for a long moment as Clark stared up at the ceiling. "I um… Lex?"  
  
"Yes, Clark?"  
  
"Can we see each other tomorrow? Is that smothering?"  
  
"No. I think that would be fine."  
  
Clark grinned and looked over a the door as Charlie came back in. "Good. We have our break at eleven. I could meet you somewhere."  
  
"I'll come pick you up. Where should I wait for you?"  
  
"Do you know where the student union is?"  
  
"I do, actually. I'll wait for you in the cul-de-sac beside the entrance."  
  
"I can't wait!" Clark flushed, realizing how eager he sounded. "I mean, should be fun."  
  
"I'm looking forward to it myself," Lex admitted. "I was feeling a little like a one night stand there. I didn't want to push."  
  
"No way. I… I miss you. Is that bad to say?"  
  
"It's exactly the right thing to say." The relief was apparent in Lex's voice.  
  
Clark grinned happily and sat up, pulling his foot close to his body. "Yeah? Okay. Um. I should probably call my parents, too."  
  
"You really should. I'm sure after yesterday, having you gone so soon must be making them nervous."  
  
"There's another piece of the meteor rock on my desk in the barn. Maybe they can let you take a look at it."  
  
"I went over there around noon. They said it had disappeared."  
  
"Oh." Clark wasn't sure if that meant it was gone or that his parents were hiding it. "Okay. Well, we'll figure it out."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well. Um."  
  
"I don’t quiet want to hang up."  
  
"Neither do I… I'll call you back when I'm done with Mom and Dad, okay?"  
  
"That sounds good."  
  
"I wish I could see your smile right now." Clark grinned even wider when he heard Lex's self-conscious chuckle. Such a sweet man.   
  
"I'll talk to you later, Clark."  
  
"Bye." Clark ended the call and sighed.  
  
"Girlfriend?"  
  
Clark jumped at Charlie's voice. He'd forgotten that Charlie was there. "Um, not… really."  
  
"Ha HA, you've got a  _girlfriend_!" Charlie came over and slapped Clark's back. "She cute?"  
  
"She's not… It's none of your business," Clark ducked his head and slipped over the other side of the bed to escape Charlie's knowing gaze. "Shut up."  
  
Charlie just laughed, long and loud.  


 

***

  
  
The sun was high in the sky as Clark stood with his backpack hanging off of one shoulder and his thumb hanging on his front pocket. He'd slipped away from the group as soon as he could, knowing that Lex would probably be early. It was strange to be so eager and nervous. It was just Lex, after all. Like any other time he and Lex had gone to hang out.  
  
Only now… just Lex included just sex, and nervous voices and the 'noncommittal' tone, and Lex's bashful smiles that Clark could practically hear over the phone. Just this one little thing, and everything changed with it.  
  
Lex drove up in a black Lamborghini and leaned out the window, wearing his expensive sunglasses and smiling up at Clark, who was hit by a wave of nostalgia as he jogged around to get into the passenger seat. It reminded him of being dropped off at school, and how much Principal Reynolds had hated Lex. The man seemed to have guessed what was brimming under the surface of their friendship before they themselves had.  
  
"How was your day?" Lex asked calmly. It was a false calm, but it was there, nonetheless. Lex had worn something very sleek today. He looked like a panther, lounging there and awaiting his prey.  
  
"Kind of boring, so far. They've been talking to us about study habits this morning." Clark shrugged. "I know how to study."  
  
"Hm. Well, in college it can be difficult. Not that you don't know how, but the workload is much heavier than high school. You may have been able to reread your book the night before a test in high school, but in college, there's just too much material to do that." Lex tilted his head and turned around in the cul-de-sac to get them on their way.  
  
Clark thought about that for a moment. In high school, he really had been able to read things the night before. Homework was never a problem, because he'd been able to superspeed through all of it. He could read five times as much as anyone else. Now… he didn't have a choice.  
  
"Didn't scare you, did I?" Lex asked.   
  
Clark shook his head. "No, I think you just put it in a way I hadn't thought about before. I hope I didn't overload my schedule."  
  
"The semester hasn't even started yet. You can drop some courses, at least a few weeks into the semester, and still get your money back," Lex pointed out.  
  
"Did you do that sometimes?" Clark laid his head back and put his hand on his leg.   
  
"Oh, Hell, no. I always took too many hours in college. It was the only way to keep me out of trouble." Lex chuckled softly and took them into the business district.  
  
"Where are we going for lunch?" Clark asked. He looked up at the enormous skyscrapers.   
  
"Le Petit Fleur," Lex replied.  
  
Clark frowned, thinking about that. He'd heard of that restaurant once before. "French, I guess?"  
  
"French, mostly, but their cuisine is a little more innovative than most. You'll like it."  
  
"Probably. I'm starving." Clark hugged his chest and watched the cars passing. "Wait."  
  
"What?" Lex slipped into the left lane and hit the gas pedal.   
  
"Wasn't Le Petit Fleur the 'romantic' restaurant that you were going to send my mom and dad to?"  
  
"Hmm." Lex thinned his lips, but just drove.  
  
Clark chuckled and leaned over to give Lex a kiss.  


 

***

  
  
Two long, slender fingers snuck across the table and intertwined with Clark's.  
  
Clark licked the sauced off his fork and looked up at Lex. "Hey."  
  
"Hey," Lex whispered. His smile widened slowly, watching Clark take another mouthful. "I thought a five course dinner would cheer you up."  
  
"I didn't need cheering, Lex." Clark swirled pasta around his fork.   
  
"You sounded a bit overwhelmed. Are you not liking the program?"  
  
"It's okay. I guess it's a nice way to get your feet wet for college. At least I'm familiar with the campus. Chloe's getting to know everyone in her field." Clark shrugged. "She's been busy at the breaks, though, and I haven't gotten to see her."  
  
"Must be tough. "  
  
"I guess I could have it worse." Clark's lips pinched to the side, then spread into a toothy grin.   
  
Lex squeezed his fingers. "I don't want to… pressure you."  
  
"No pressure felt!" Clark promised.  
  
"Good. I would just… I thought I might move into my loft for a while. Come visit you whenever you have the time," Lex suggested. His brows rose.  
  
"I'd like that." Clark dipped his head for a moment, then laughed. "So we jump in the sack and then decide to take it slow?"  
  
"Clark, I've been waiting since you were fifteen. If we took it any slower, we'd be going backward," Lex replied with a bit of exasperation.   
  
"I want to stay over one of these weekends. Get to know the loft?" Clark suggested.  
  
"Hmm, wonder how that will end." Lex nudged the delicate cut of meat on his plate. "Don't you have to go home and visit your parents?"   
  
"Yeah, well. Yeah." Clark sighed.  
  
"Every weekend?"  
  
"Maybe… when school starts…" Clark looked up and sighed, trying to look innocent. "I'll just have to stay at school and study more."  
  
Lex chuckled. Clark set his fork down as he heard his phone and checked the text message. "Oh! Chloe got the job at the Journal… Better paid than at The Daily Planet, too."  
  
"Well, that isn't bad, actually. I know she had her heart set on The Planet, but I think she'll find a more diverse portfolio will result in employers considering her a more desirable asset," Lex pointed out, breaking off a piece of bread. "And an internship elsewhere doesn't mean she won't be able to work her way up to the position and newspaper she wants."  
  
Clark nodded as he continued to write out his text. "I'll tell her that. Thanks, Lex."  
  
"None needed. Chloe's a bit naïve about the politics of reporting, but she's a good journalist herself. I'd hate for her to short shrift herself on experience, just to wake up in a few years after they've used her for grunt work to realize that people with half her talent are getting all of the attention." Lex raised his wineglass. "To fools who don't know what they're missing."  
  
"You didn't call the Journal, did you?" Clark asked warily.  
  
"Well, I did, but they hung up on me." Lex smirked and shrugged.  
  
"You're great." Clark laughed and sent the message. He slipped his phone back in his pocket and looked up. "This is a nice lunch."  
  
"We haven't even gotten to dessert yet," Lex teased. He licked his lips slowly. "Clark?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Want to have that wrapped up? We could see the loft before you have to get back."  
  
Clark sucked some sweet, creamy sauce off his finger as he met Lex's mischievous eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**August**  
  
Skin. Sweat. Heat. Breathing. Panting. Screaming.  
  
"So. How's school…?"  
  
Clark rolled over on his back and laughed heartily. "Uh, it just started. It's okay. Moving everything into the dorm was a real pain, but I already had stuff up here from Preview. Still kind of hectic, though."  
  
"I'm glad you can spare some time for an old friend." Lex rolled his head over and smiled. His hand ran down Clark's sweating chest, over his muscular abdomen.  
  
"I didn't have anything else planned for tonight. Well, homework."  
  
"Homework's important. Did you bring it?"  
  
"That's not exactly romantic," Clark pointed out.  
  
"We have the entire weekend to fool around." Lex planted soft kisses along Clark's collarbone.   
  
"Well, not really. My parents want me to come down on Sunday."  
  
"Ah. Then we'd better make the best of our time together."  
  
Lex never asked to be invited to family dinners. He never asked if Clark was going to tell his parents, or if Clark had broken up with Lana. He seemed to be waiting, still, for Clark.  
  
"Hm. I guess so." Clark grinned and rose. He pulled Lex's hands over his head and straddled his legs.  
  
 **September**  
  
"Ah…" Clark looked down and rubbed his stomach with a frown. Was that fluttery feeling normal? Before Jor-El had 'punished' him, Clark had never felt nauseous, not unless there was Kryptonite around. Never gotten heartburn. Never felt any of the weird variety of digestive issues that humans apparently suffered from on a daily basis.  
  
He tried to focus on taking his organic chemistry notes.  
  
The other day, he'd visited the over-the-counter pharmaceuticals isle in the grocery store for the first time and stood there for half an hour, boggling at the Technicolor array of cures for squicky tummy. Diarrhea. Constipation. Heartburn. Sour stomach (whatever that was). Gas. Bloating.  
  
Even better, all the names of the medicines practically screamed to the cashier, "I'm having a huge problem with my ass!"  
  
Clark had bought some chewable, cherry-flavored Gas-X along with a package of Lactaid and a couple of pints of ice cream. Maybe the clerk would assume that he was just planning ahead and not spewing toxic fumes already.  
  
Still as he sat in class, though, none of it seemed to be working, and that ice cream had really gone straight to his waistline. He could barely button up his jeans. Clark slid down in his seat uncomfortably and crossed his arms over his stomach. Being human was really, really not what he'd thought it would be.  
  
When class ended, Clark took a deep breath and headed for the Union to meet Chloe. Some days it just didn't pay to get out of bed, not that he would have gotten any sleep with Charlie in the other bed, but that wasn't exactly the point.  
  
Chloe bounced into view, her eyes twinkling. Her hair was done like waves around her head, and she was wearing a sea green dress with an empire waist.  
  
"What's the occasion?" Clark asked, falling into step with her.  
  
"No occasion. I just felt like being girlie today. We girls have those days," she informed him. She leaned to the side to spy how long the lines were. "Are you in the mood for? Tex-Mex? Pizza?"  
  
"Uh… I don't know. I'm hungry but I don't feel like eating anything."  
  
Chloe turned her head and narrowed her eyes at Clark. "You don't look well. Have you been sick?"  
  
Clark waved his hand at her in response.  
  
"It's okay for you to be sick, you know. It's normal. It's human."  
  
"Being human sucks."  
  
Chloe giggled and locked her arm with his. "So I gather. It'll pass. And then you'll know what feeling  _good_  really feels like. You can't really appreciate it without being sick once and awhile."  
  
"I've felt pain before," Clark grumbled.  
  
"Yeah, but only for a few seconds." She patted his arm, then rubbed up and down his bicep. "Why don't you head back to your dorm and get some rest?"  
  
"I'll miss my classes," Clark protested.  
  
"One of the bonuses of being human is calling in sick once and awhile," Chloe declared. "Go to your dorm, and I'll be there in a few minutes, okay?"  
  
Clark sighed and crossed his arms. He doubted he'd get any rest at his dorm, but he did as she said and began the walk back. Such was the life of a man without a car or a bicycle.  
  
The campus was green and sprawling. As he walked across the grass, he watched the other students walking to class and fooling around together. He was more like them than ever, and still,  _still_  he wasn't one of them. Clark thought now that maybe he never would be.  
  
When he reached his dorm, he told Toby at the desk that his friend would be coming up, and the young man nodded. He'd seen Chloe come up with Clark before.   
  
Clark flopped back on his bed and stared at he ceiling. He rubbed his thumb over his abdomen, hoping that he'd be feeling less swollen and queasy soon. He closed his eyes.  
  
He awoke to Chloe's hand on his shoulder.   
  
"Ohhh, is this the girlfriend?" Charlie boomed as he came in from the bathroom. "Farmboy was dead to the world there, huh?"  
  
"Ugh. He let you in?" Clark asked as he pushed himself up. He could smell something good in the bag she was holding.  
  
"Yep." She pulled the desk chair over and sat in it, then dug in the bag. "I brought you chicken soup and some saltines. The bistro on the corner has much better food than the Caf or the Union, and soup'll be lighter on your stomach. Have you thrown up any?"  
  
"No. Just…" Clark shrugged, at a loss on how to describe it. "Squicky."  
  
"Squicky tummy," Chloe repeated with a bright smile. She petted her hand over his hair and handed him the container of soup and set the crackers beside him. "I have cold water, too. That might help. Try the soup?"  
  
"It smells good." Clark sipped the broth and nodded. His stomach growled.  
  
"Much needed," Chloe stated, picking up her own carton.  
  
"Are you going to be late for work?"  
  
"No, I won't be there until later this evening, unless Adam texts me."  
  
"Adam? Would be?"  
  
"Just my boss at the Metropolis Journal."  
  
"Jealous, farmboy?" Charlie fell onto the chair on the other side of the room.  
  
"No," Clark replied a little defensively.  
  
"Tell your boyfriend that the night calls that go on forever are sweet and all, but occasionally, some of us like to study," Charlie told Chloe as he opened up his laptop.  
  
"Since when do you study? I thought you were up all night watching porn," Clark replied irritably.  
  
"You wouldn't deny a girl her pleasure, would you?" Chloe interjected, raising a brow and pouting her lips.  
  
Charlie chuckled. '"Get as much pleasure out of the world as you can, blondie."  
  
"Will do." Chloe took a sip of her broccoli and cheddar soup and rolled her eyes. "How is it, Clark?"  
  
"Doing the trick." Clark looked up at her. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem." Chloe ran her fingers through his hair a few times.  
  
Eventually, Charlie left for class, so Chloe turned her head and looked at Clark expectantly.   
  
"So, Lana? I thought she told me you two hadn't talked since she went to New York?"  
  
"No, uh… Well, that's true." Clark set his container aside and shifted uncomfortably.  
  
Chloe opened her mouth. "You have a new girlfriend and didn't tell me?"   
  
"No?" Clark pinched his mouth to the side. "Okay, I know we tell each other everything but… It's just…"  
  
"No, no, it's okay. You don't have to tell me everything. Boundaries are good." Chloe paused and looked to the side. "Or so I'm told."  
  
"It's not keeping it from you… I just didn't know how to say it." Clark sighed and took a cracker. "It's not a girl."  
  
Chloe creased her brow and stared at him for a moment while he nibbled his cracker nervously.  
  
"It's Lex, isn't it?"  
  
Clark's mouth dropped open. "Uh, yeah. I was kind of saving that for a second revelation but yeah. How did you-"  
  
"He's the only guy you've ever looked at like that," she said quietly. "So I take it you worked out your… differences?"  
  
"Kind of."  
  
"Does he know? About…?"  
  
"No! I haven't told him. Yet. I  _will_ ," Clark insisted. "We've just been letting things develop. You know, taking it slow/"  
  
"Doesn't sound much like Lex. Or you, actually, if Alicia was any indication."  
  
"I guess not. He's been holding back." Clark stared at his fingers.  
  
"So um, do you want to go see him?"  
  
"I'm okay here, Chlo."  
  
"I dunno. I kind of think that if I  _had_  a significant other, of any gender, I'd probably want to be with him or her if I weren't feeling so hot." Chloe shrugged. "I'll drive you over."  
  
Clark smiled. "Thanks. For the soup, and for not…" He shook his head. "Getting on my case about Lex."  
  
"Just don't wait too long to tell him. He's a lot like me. Liable to do boneheaded things in search of the truth."  
  
"You're the best," Clark declared, getting up slowly.  
  
"Wonk wonk wonk. Go freshen up."  
  


***

  
  
Clark sat outside of Lex's office in a chair as Lex's secretary filed and answered the phone, only occasionally looking up at Clark. Apparently Lex was in a meeting of some sort, and Clark pouted, rubbing his stomach as he waited for Lex.  
  
"Hey, Clark."   
  
At the sound of Lex's smooth voice, Clark jumped to his feet and wrapped his arms around Lex, who frowned and rubbed his back.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing." Clark sighed. He let Lex lead him into his office, where they sat on the sofa. Clark swallowed and sucked in his lip. He felt gross.  
  
"You're sick," Lex stated sternly, raking his fingers through Clark's hair.   
  
"I'm not…" Clark protested, seeing Lex's eyes line with concern.  
  
"You're pale. Did you eat something that didn't agree with you? Hm?" His hand drifted over Clark's stomach and rubbed gently.  
  
"I don't know. My stomach's felt… icky for the past week."  
  
"Icky, hm?" Lex pulled Clark's shirt up and kissed his abdomen.   
  
"Why do you do stuff like that?"  
  
"Because you love it?" Lex slipped his hand around Clark's waist and rested it on his side. Clark flinched a little, but Lex didn't seem to notice that he was a little thicker there.  
  
So he kissed Lex happily and resolved to put it out of his mind.  
  
 **October**  
  
Charlie whistled long and low. "Freshman fifteen sneakin' up on you, eh, farmboy?"  
  
The young man laughed heartily as Clark quickly grabbed a shirt and pulled it over his head. "No."  
  
"Oh, relax, Chub." Charlie laughed low and deep. The large young man occasionally over-pronounced his words in a way that made him sound to Clark like a television dad or a sports announcer. "You could join intramurals. Shed some of the excess chunk."  
  
"Thanks," Clark replied, curling up next to the window. A harder feat now than it had been a month ago.   
  
"Aww. C'mon, if that little girlfriend of yours hasn't dumped you yet, she's not gonna. Just watch those donut holes," Charlie advised.   
  
Clark sulked stubbornly until his roommate left the room, then lifted up his shirt, deliberately bought a few sizes too big, and looked at his rounded little pot-belly. Lex hadn't said anything of course; he let things lie, it seemed, and still wasn't pushing Clark for anything more.  
  
Clark was beginning to wonder if Lex wanted anything more than they had. He sighed and pushed himself up to pack for the weekend. He'd promised his mother some time at home, since he wouldn't be back until Thanksgiving. With one look at his jeans, safety pinned together, Clark reached for a few sweaters to wear. That should hide this. Sweaters, layers. Extra fabric. It was getting cold out, after all. And he was a tall guy.  
  
He didn't think his parents would be angry; he just felt  _embarrassed_  by it. He'd never had a weight problem before.  
  
Clark fastened his suitcase and added a few more books into the messenger bag that Lex had bought for him to replace the backpack and headed out of his room. Lex was going to play chauffeur for the weekend, even if he still wasn't invited to the farmhouse. If Clark thought he was up for dealing with his father this weekend, he might have just fessed up and 'introduced' his parents to his boyfriend.   
  
But he wasn't. He got very tired these days. Maybe it was stress, or that he was just down about his weight, but sometimes it was very hard to find the energy to finish his work. He'd fall asleep in Lex's office waiting for him, and he'd wake a few hours later when Lex was done and rubbing his back with a tender expression on his face.  
  
He reached the parking lot, huffing a little and vowing to get back into shape, and soon, when he spotted Lana standing by Chloe. Her face froze when she caught sight of him, and there was a twitch of her lips that told him that she noticed his weight gain.  
  
"Hey, Clark. It's been a while," Lana said in a stiff voice as her eyes raked over his expanded form.  
  
"I um…" Clark looked at his suitcase and pretended to be concerned about getting their luggage in Lex's car. "How's art school in New York? Any better than Paris?"  
  
"Um." Lana blinked and shook her head. "Good. I'm learning a lot, and the professors seem to get me. No 16th century witches trying to inhabit my body. How's it going for you?"  
  
"I've got that, Clark," Lex offered. He'd been leaning on the other side of the car and came jogging around to get his hands on Clark's suitcase.  
  
"No, you don't have to. Lex, I can get it!" Clark sighed in annoyance as Lex took both the suitcase and messenger bag from him with a grunt.  
  
"How chivalrous of you, Lex," Chloe laughed.  
  
"Yeah, especially since you didn't help me with my bag," Lana added.  
  
"You had two bags, and I beg to differ, I got one of those monsters." Lex cocked a brow and pointed at the backseat. "Get in. We have three hours of driving ahead of us. Do you guys want to stop for something on the way?"  
  
"Since when does it take you three hours to get to Smallville," Chloe asked, exchanging an amused look with Lana.   
  
"Yeah, I seem to remember you breaking the sound barrier a few times," Lana said as she slipped into the backseat with Chloe.  
  
"I'll thank the peanut gallery to keep it to themselves." Lex sat down in the driver's seat and looked over at Clark cautiously. He watched as Clark buckled his seatbelt, then started the car. "So are you guys hungry? My treat."  
  
"Mrs. Kent will probably have a feast waiting when Clark gets there, but I wouldn't mind some food that's not strictly fast," Chloe admitted. "My dad and I, neither one of us can cook. It's a genetic failing."  
  
"You know, my roommate and I have a miniature fridge of our own. It's much healthier than eating out all the time," Lana pointed out. "It's too easy to gain weight your freshman year."  
  
Clark felt like Lana might as well have been staring him down and reaching around the seat to poke his softening sides.  
  
"I don't have the time for cooking between work and school, honestly. Do you guys have a hot plate? My roommate seems to be the queen of making the most of her meal card." Chloe shifted in her seat and ran her hand through her hair with a yawn.  
  
"I do know a place that will let us order out that isn't particularly greasy. I know the owners. Just tell me what you want… or rather, tell Clark. I'm driving," Lex decided. He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Clark. "I'll give you the number."  
  
"Since when do you care about driving while on your cell phone?" Lana asked with amusement in her voice.  
  
"When I have passengers, I care," Lex replied sharply. Then, more gently. "The menu is in the glove compartment, Clark."  
  
"Got it." Clark looked at Lex curiously. He wasn't going to complain, though. Eggrolls sounded great right now.   
  
Fifteen minutes later, they'd picked up their dinners and headed out onto the road. Lana had given Clark a look when he'd made his order. He had seen it in the mirror. They hadn't officially broken up, but they hadn't officially started dating, either. From the expression on her face, she didn't seem to be that interested in him right now. More like  _repelled_.   
  
He munched on his eggroll moodily, and noted to himself that he'd never had an eggroll that was so crispy on the outside and delightfully soft on the inside. Mostly they'd just been greasy and limp.  
  
"Didn't I tell you?" Lex cast Clark a smug glance. When they reached a stoplight, he leaned over and opened his mouth.  
  
Clark grinned and dipped the eggroll in some sweet and sour sauce before offering it to Lex's waiting mouth.  
  
"Mmm." Lex crunched on the eggroll appreciatively.  
  
"Careful, Lex. Don't want to mess up that girlish figure," Lana teased, casting another glance over to Clark.  
  
"I think it's my business if I want to get roly poly," Lex shot back. "I don't live to have other people staring at me."  
  
Lana rolled her eyes and started talking career options with Chloe, who nodded along and started sharing some of the rollicking adventures of working at The Metropolis Journal. Clearly they were a lively group, and that Adam Levine seemed to send Chloe on the craziest errands. It was in the future, but Clark had started considering applying for an internship at The Journal next year. He missed working with Chloe on The Torch.  
  
Clark felt his mood lifting and rubbed a hand over his stomach when he felt a little shift inside him. Must have been his stomach digesting.  
  


***

  
  
Clark wasn't sure he was going to survive the looks people kept giving him. One would have thought that no one ever went off to college and got pudgy before. When he'd met his parents at the farmhouse, his mother made a fish face in surprise, and his father had stopped and blinked a few times before coming up to give him a firm pat on the back.  
  
"Well, good to see you, Clark. It's weird not having you around the house," Jonathan said seriously. "Must be strange for you not to be working the farm, hm?"  
  
"Yeah. It's not like I have any lack of things to do, though." Clark shrugged and sighed. Lex gave him a little wave from the car.  
  
"Is he coming in?" Martha asked, looked over at Lex.  
  
Clark turned his head and frowned to see Lex getting his luggage out of the trunk. "I don't know why he thinks I'm so delicate all of a sudden."  
  
With that he stormed over to the car and made a grab for his suitcase, but Lex was too swift and had it in his hands first. Stubbornly, Clark took his messenger bag and slammed the trunk shut. Lex's smirk was just a little too much, and Clark rolled his eyes and sighed.   
  
"Thank you for driving the kids all the way here, Lex," Martha said warmly. She watched as Lex paused to take a breath. "You know, Clark could get that."  
  
"No, I've got it," Lex breezed. He headed past them to the porch, determined by some unknown force to get the suitcase up there.  
  
"He's lost his mind," Clark said to his parents, as if that was an explanation.   
  
Martha chuckled. "He's just trying to look out for you, I guess. You being away at college must be rough on him. He doesn't have that many friends."  
  
Clark declined to mention that he and Lex were seeing each other a few times a week.  
  
"You think he'll stay for dinner?" Martha wondered.  
  
"For dinner?" Jonathan repeated.  
  
"He did drive them, and all."  
  
"If you ask, Mom, Lex will stay. He never brings it up, but I can't imagine he'd say no," Clark told her. He crossed his arms over his chest and hoped he didn't have to see anyone else around town this weekend.  
  
Martha nodded and headed toward the house with a bounce in her step.  
  
"I guess we're having a guest," Jonathan grumbled.   
  


***

  
  
If Lex noticed that Clark had packed away one dinner only three hours ago, and was heartily packing away a second before his eyes, he made no mention of it, or even a flicker or gesture to indicate he saw anything strange.   
  
Instead he kept up a rather lively conversation with Martha about what was going on in Smallville currently and what charities she was interested in. Inevitably, they turned their conversation to business, which soured Jonathan's expression, but Martha seemed interested in talking shop with Lex about the Talon.  
  
"Honestly, it's never turned a profit, and I'm not sure what to do with it. I had such good plans when I started." Martha stood to bring over the potatoes. "Would you boys like some more?"  
  
Lex held up hand, but Clark furtively shifted his eyes sideways, then helped himself to some more mashed potatoes. Martha smiled widely, no doubt happy that Clark was eating 'real food' instead of what could be found on campus. She probably blamed the campus food for his expanding figure.  
  
Lex shrugged and sipped his lemonade. "It's up to you. I don't have much tie to the business; I never did. It was mostly Lana's call, so whatever you think is best."   
  
"I appreciate that." Martha sat down again across from Lex. "Save some room for pie, boys."  
  
"I think we'll be able to manage." Lex slipped his hand under the table and patted Clark's leg. Clark flushed.  
  
After dinner was over, Clark found himself walking with Lex out to the barn. He was tired again and felt as though he might fall asleep on his feet. There was a comfortable silence between the two of them for quite a while, then Clark looked over and saw Lex watching him with that funny, tender expression that he wore sometimes lately.  
  
"What is it?" Clark asked.  
  
"Nothing." The corners of Lex's lips curled very slightly and he touched the small of Clark's back as they ascended the stairs. "I'm sure it's good to be home."  
  
"I guess. I mean, yeah, I miss seeing my folks every day. It's really different. I'm just too busy to be driving back and forth more than every other weekend." Clark groaned a little as they reached the top of the stairs. Lex's arm hung around Clark's back snugly.   
  
"I'm glad you take the time. Keeping a relationship strong is worth the effort."  
  
"Yeah." Clark turned a little and looked down on Lex curiously. "Do you… Lex, what is this to you?"  
  
Lex's brows twitched. "This? You mean us?"  
  
"Is there an us?"  
  
"There's always been an us, Clark. Since the very day we met." Lex tilted his head to the side and licked his lips. "Slow is good. Fast is fine. I just can't let myself push you, Clark, because when I push, you run away from me. And having had you, I couldn't survive the separation. So I'm leaving it up to you, what we are, when we are. If I let myself start, I'll be keeping you in my apartment and having one of my guards follow you all of the time to make sure you're okay."  
  
Clark gave an exasperated sigh. "You don't have to go  _that_  far. I just wanted to know if we're-"  
  
The term boyfriend-girlfriend crossed Clark's mind, but seeing how it didn't apply…  
  
"We're just you and me? Exclusive? You aren't seeing anyone else, are you?" Clark asked uncertainly.  
  
"No. I'm not seeing anyone else." Lex's fingers touched Clark's cheek. "Are you and Lana…?"  
  
"Did you see the way she was looking at me today? I think she wouldn't have me if I were the last guy on the planet." Clark frowned a little, because he would have liked to think that his relationship with Lana had more to it than mutual attraction, but apparently not.   
  
"She's a fool." Lex pressed their lips together and moved them toward the sofa. His tender touches brushed over Clark's nose, his cheeks, loving and cupping his face with total adoration.  
  
Clark fell back on the sofa and reached up to Lex.  
  


***

  
  
Farm work was harder than Clark remembered, even without his powers. Saturday morning he leaned on a pitchfork and looked over the hay around him helplessly. He felt like he was going to drop.   
  
His stomach grumbled obnoxiously, and Clark glared at it. "I just ate. Leave me alone."  
  
Clark got back to work, but more slowly this time. He was starting to think that this was all a cruel trick of Jor-El's to convince him that he'd rather fall in line and do what he was told. He had to admit that he'd considered it a few times.  
  
When his knees went weak, Clark grabbed onto the handle of his pitchfork. The grain of the wood against his gloves slowed him down, but soon he was sitting on the ground, feeling like he should just curl up in a ball right there.  
  
He'd had dizzy spells before, but this one was different. Felt much different. He curled a hand over his protruding abdomen and whispered:  
  
"What's happening to me?"  
  
 **November**  
  
"Happy Birthday, Lex," Clark whispered, kissing the side of his boyfriend's neck. The two of them were sitting on a park bench in front of a large lake. It was cold, but the two of them were bundled up nicely, and Clark had wrapped his scarf around both of their necks, since Lex seemed cold.  
  
Lex stared straight ahead with a stern expression as Clark peppered his skin with kisses. He reached over to squeeze Clark's knee, but continued to frown as he struggled to find his words. "Clark, we need to talk."  
  
"Do we have to talk? Maybe we can just do this." Clark continued to kiss and nibble the side of his neck, working his way up to Lex's jaw.  
  
"Ah… No, Clark, now. Okay? I've waited as long as I could, but we both know that something has to be done." Lex turned to Clark and met his eye. "We have to talk about this."  
  
He pointed to Clark's middle.  
  
"Oh." Clark felt tears coming to his eyes. He should have tried harder to control his weight. But he couldn't help it. He got so hungry and no amount of jogging had done much to lessen his gradual expansion. "I thought you didn't mind."  
  
"I don’t." Lex smiled softly and put his hand over Clark's bulging abdomen. "I'm happy, Clark. I just wish you'd talked to me about it. However, I don't think we can pretend anymore. I just want you to be taken care of… and  _healthy_."  
  
"I don't know what to do. I guess I could start going to the gym…" Clark looked down, feeling a tear roll down his cheek, which he wiped away in embarrassment.  
  
"Hey. Hey, Clark." Lex cupped his cheek and made Clark lift his chin. "You don’t need to go to a gym. Under the circumstances, obviously you'll be gaining weight."  
  
He paused a moment and kissed Clark's lips softly. "What do you think I'm talking about?"  
  
Clark pushed his lips out. "My freshman fifteen," he muttered, rubbing his belly.   
  
"You think this is about the weight?" Lex watched Clark's eyes carefully.  
  
"Well, I've gotten fat. There's no denying it, I guess. If it's not that, then what is it about?" Clark asked after a moment, frustrated.  
  
Lex was silent, and then he kissed Clark's lips again slowly, causing Clark to feel himself warming from the inside out. Then Lex spoke again.  
  
"This isn't about the weight, Clark. It's about the baby."  
  
"The… what?" Clark looked down and stared at Lex's hand on the round bump at the front of his sweater. "I… no, Lex, I can't… what?"  
  
Lex's soft chuckle made Clark's insides turn to water. "If I'd realized you didn't know, I would have said something sooner. I wanted to give you the time you needed to deal with this. Have you been eating properly? Enough?"  
  
"Doesn't it look like I  _have_?" Clark replied automatically.   
  
Instead of responding, Lex wrapped his arms around Clark and sighed. "Not really, no. I think sometimes you have been, but others… Well, if you've been trying to lose weight, you probably haven't been getting what you and the baby need. No wonder you get so hungry."  
  
"You really think? A baby?"  
  
"You haven't felt it kick by now? When I put my hand there, I've felt it move already."  
  
"Kicking?" Clark felt confused and helpless. His father had taken his powers, but this had still happened? He was powerless, and he could still get… there could still be…? "Lex, I can't do this!"  
  
"Clark, it's a bit late now to be deciding that," Lex argued, pulling back a little. He visibly pulled back his temper to remain calm, despite the panic around his eyes. "I… You want to get rid of it?"  
  
"No, I just… I…" Clark let out a short little breath, and Lex rubbed his arms.  
  
"Take deep breaths, Clark. I asked you here because I wanted to ask you what kind of support I could give you. I don't want to push, but surely the baby is mine, and I…"   
  
The look on Lex's face before he looked at Clark's belly was at the same time grave and pleading.   
  
"I must be having an aneurysm."  
  
"…What?"  
  
"I'm in a coma. Dreaming this. How can I be…?"   
  
"Smallville was always a strange town. It could be you, or it could be me. Or it could be that strange silver meteorite. I don't know." Lex sighed softly. "If you don't want this, I can take care of him or her. I know that it's a lot to ask of you, it's a lot of work, but I can take on the rest. It was a surprise, and I won't think less of you."  
  
Clark stared at Lex, feeling the cold wind blowing against them. Suddenly he scowled at Lex and wrapped his arms stubbornly around his belly.   
  
"No one is taking him. Not even you. Unless it's us together."  
  
Lex's face lit up. "I can handle together."  
  
"You must think I'm an idiot," Clark muttered. His hand spread over the side of his distended abdomen. The sickness, the fluttering. A chuckle worked its way up through Clark's chest and erupted merrily until he was grinning like a fool.  
  
"I have to admit… I'm not sure pregnancy would be my first diagnosis if it were happening to me," Lex replied with a smile. "Smallville strangeness aside. I think I'd probably think cancer first, then… I don't know. There are women who deny it themselves until they give birth. Not such an idiot, I think."  
  
"What tipped you off then?" Clark relaxed against the back of the bench and let Lex wrap an arm around his back and curl the other over his belly.  
  
"Hm. Your face. It was your face, and the rosy sheen over your cheeks."  
  
"And not me getting enormous?"  
  
"Well, you getting sick, and then getting ahem, bigger, were definitely clues." Lex snuggled close to Clark. "Are you warm enough?"  
  
"I'm okay. I…" Clark looked down. "Does that mean it should be okay for him?"  
  
"Yes, I believe so."  
  
"I don't know… what to do about this."  
  
"Well, Clark, there isn't a lot to do. You need to make sure you eat enough. I can give you some vitamins. And… a doctor, if that's okay with you." Lex looked up hesitantly.  
  
"A doctor?" Clark knit his brows together. Would the doctor be able to see he wasn't normal?  
  
"A discreet one, of course. I don't want any of us on a tabloid," Lex added.  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"If the thought distresses you, get rid of it. I don't want you worrying."  
  
"But don't I have to have a doctor?"  
  
"Depends. Your mother knows how to deliver animals, doesn't she? And I'm not without medical knowledge."  
  
Clark thought on that for a moment. He had a sudden, horrifying image of his mother with her head between his legs as he lay between cows in the barn. "Uh… I don't think I can talk about this right now."  
  
"How about I get you some hot cocoa, then?"  
  
"You're a great Daddy already," Clark joked weakly. "Do you think they have anything to eat over there?"  
  
"I'm not getting you a parasite ridden Centennial Park hotdog, if that's what you're thinking," Lex replied as he stood.  
  
"Boo."   
  
"We could go to Pineapple King, if you like."  
  
"Where's that?" Clark splayed his legs out and folded his hands under his belly.  
  
"Hmm… I'll show you. But cocoa first." Lex leaned over and gave Clark a kiss on the forehead.  
  
Clark sighed as he watched Lex walking away. He was surprising himself, how calm he was right now. Maybe he had suffered an aneurysm upon finding out that he was pregnant.  
  
Oh, and there it was. That fluttering. God, he'd been feeling it for months. Stronger now, though.  
  
"Your dad is dumb, kiddo. I'm sorry if I did anything that wasn't good for you," Clark told his belly.  
  


***

  
  
Lex watched him with a delight that Clark might want to smack him for, if he weren't busy eating the most gloriously wonderful hot dog in the world.  
  
"Stop staring at me," Clark ordered, cheek stuffed full of hot dog.  
  
Lex chuckled and turned to look out the window. Clark would have never believed that he'd ever see Lex hanging out in a little hole in the wall restaurant like this.  
  
"Oh, God, how have I never had banana peppers before?" Clark rolled his eyes upward.  
  
"You're really a lot of fun like this." Lex leaned on his hand.   
  
"I thought you didn't want me having parasite ridden hot dogs." Clark licked his lips and sipped his cherry lemonade.  
  
"Mike makes them strictly kosher. Parasite and entrails free." Lex rubbed Clark's leg. "You look like you feel better now.  
  
"Because I'm  _eating_!" Clark joked. He wiped his mouth and thought for a moment. "Well, I know what's going on now, too. Before… I didn't understand why I felt the way I did."  
  
"Must have been frightening."  
  
"Yeah." Clark went back to eating his hot dog. Who could tell what was going on inside of him? Clark had assumed that his body had become human, but that clearly wasn't the case. This relationship between he and Lex made the alien parts of him harder and harder to deny.  
  
He was  _pregnant_  for goodness sakes!  
  
"Take a breath," Lex urged.  
  
"Why are  _you_  so calm?" Clark snapped. He wished his feelings were so easy to read sometimes. "You're the one who got your boyfriend pregnant."  
  
"I've had a little time for the reality to sink in. I was hoping you'd broach the subject, and we could talk about what we're going to do next semester." Lex reached over and moved two fingers over Clark's belly.  
  
"What happens next semester?" Clark looked up.  
  
Lex sucked one cheek in and took a long pause before answering. "Birth."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Uh, Clark, you look… pale. Let me wrap this up. We'll head back to the loft, hm? Clark?"  
  
"Give me a minute!"  
  
"I… yes." Lex headed for the counter to get a take out container.  
  
Clark rested his chin in his hands and stared at the remaining hotdogs. Lex hadn't eaten his. Clark wondered if Lex was nervous, if he felt like Clark did. Of course, he didn't have to worry about a rapidly expanding little baby alien inside him, but he did seem to be concerned about Clark.  
  
For the past few months, Lex had been watching Clark, feeding him, carrying his luggage. Clark smiled as he remembered Lex hefting his weekend suitcase inside the farmhouse.   
  
"I'm going to be okay," Clark said as Lex returned with the containers.  
  
"I know you will," Lex said calmly. He took some napkins and placed the hotdogs in one container and the fries in another.  
  
Clark watched him for several moments. "You're a liar. You've been worried about me."  
  
"I… Fine, I'm a liar. Who gets their boyfriend pregnant? I'm sorry, Clark. I…" Lex sat down across from Clark and wiped his hands with a napkin. "I don't mean to sound as though I'm not happy about this child, because you know that I am, but I… I've disrupted your life. You're only eighteen."  
  
Lex's smooth brow wrinkled slightly, and Clark could see guilt tensing Lex's face.  
  
"Lex, I jumped  _you_. How long would you have waited if I hadn't? Don't do that."  
  
"That doesn't change the result of what happened. I'm older. I'm responsible," Lex replied.   
  
Mike came over with another carton. "A couple of slices of our cheesecake. On the house, boys. It's good to see your friend enjoy our dogs so much!"  
  
"I'd hope he'd like them as much as I do." Lex nodded to Mike. "Thank you for the dessert."  
  
"Do you like them? I'd never know. Eat, boy!" Mike pinched Lex's side and laughed. "Have a good day, kids."  
  
Lex shook his head and stacked the containers together. "Come on."  
  
He walked around the side of the table and took Clark's hand. Lifting his chin, Clark watched Lex's face as he stood. Definitely easier to move around that way.  
  
After they had left the restaurant, Clark spoke again. "I need you to do something?"  
  
"Anything, Clark," Lex vowed immediately.  
  
"Stop this guilt tripping thing. I'm an adult… more or less. I can handle this." Clark hugged Lex's shoulders and dropped a kiss on the top of Lex's head. "With your help."  
  
"You have it."   
  
When Clark dropped his hand, Lex took it in his own and squeezed it. Clark bumped Lex's shoulder, and the older man laughed softly.  
  
"So when are we telling your parents?"  
  
"… We have to tell my parents?"   
  


***

  
  
Playing doctor with Lex wasn't quite what Clark had expected. Certainly, through the years, Clark had considered a number of scenarios that included Lex lifting his shirt up, and this wasn't one of them.   
  
The shift between 'Lex' and 'scientist' occurred so seamlessly; one moment he was helping Clark into a seat, and the next his expressionless face was looking over Clark, his fingers exploring Clark's sides, his mind working faster than Clark could follow. Lex pulled out a few basic medical tools, and it was then that it struck Clark that Lex clearly had these on hand. To look after Clark, surely.  
  
As Lex lifted Clark's shirt to listen to his heart, Clark rested a hand on the back of Lex's neck. The man looked up and cracked a slight, lopsided smile. Clark hoped that his heart wasn't speeding up too much.  
  
Lex put away the stethoscope wordlessly, and then pulled out another. "You seem fine, Clark, as far as I can tell. I should probably run some blood tests-"  
  
Clark's heart leaped into his throat.  
  
"-and I can acquire an ultrasound, which should be helpful. I don't particularly want to do an amnio unless we suspect something is wrong. Aside from a questionable location, we're both two healthy young men…" Lex sighed and touched the back of his head. "Am I being alarmist?"  
  
"You're scared." Clark shrugged. "I'm scared. I'm not necessarily thrilled about the idea of shoving a needle in here with the baby either."  
  
Lex released a sigh mingled with laughter. "Okay. Let's listen to this little one, hm?"  
  
"Listen…?" Clark frowned as he recognized what Lex was holding. Lex rubbed the edge of the fetal stethoscope on his shirt before pressing it against Clark's belly, and Clark watched, barely breathing as he realized that they would be able to hear the baby.  
  
He'd never missed his super hearing so much as he did now. Never missed his vision so much. He could have watched his baby whenever he wanted. He could have listened to the child's heartbeat all the time.   
  
When Lex lifted the earpieces to Clark, he drew in a sharp breath and leaned forward.  
  
"Oh, my god," Clark muttered, listening to the quick little heartbeat.  
  
"I know," Lex whispered.  
  
"Lex?"  
  
Clark leaned over and Lex lifted his chin and their lips met. Their bodies curled around one another in the little sitting room they had designated as an impromptu doctor's office.


	3. Chapter 3

**November  
Thanksgiving**  
  
Eyes closed firmly and hands running up and down his belly, Clark breathed in and out slowly. He willed time to stop, but it stubbornly refused. The car stopped, and after waiting a moment, Lex took one of Clark's hands.  
  
"We're here."  
  
"Unnn," Clark whined.  
  
"They  _are_  going to notice something's up when we start walking around with a baby."  
  
"I know, I just…" Clark opened his eyes and looked to Lex.  
  
"On the bright side, there will probably be pie."  
  
"There will be at least three kinds of pie," Clark corrected. He petted his belly. "Lucky you, huh, baby?"  
  
"He'll love your mother's cooking."  
  
"If last time was any indication? Oh yeah. He loves it."   
  
Despite not knowing the gender, they'd stuck with the male pronoun. It seemed more personal than calling the baby an 'it,' and could be corrected quickly enough once they did the ultrasound.  
  
Clark saw his father coming out of the house, and he registered the frown on Jonathan's face when he saw Lex. Clark had told them that he was bringing Lex, but apparently he'd hoped Lex would end up not making it. True, Lex had the habit of working through holidays, but Clark wasn't going into this alone.  
  
"I'll help you out," Lex declared, opening his door.  
  
"No, I got it." Clark pulled the handle and then pushed himself up. It wouldn't be long before he really needed the hand up. He put a hand on the top of the car and breathed out.  _Really_  wouldn't be long. He headed for his father, who was putting forth a valiant effort not to comment on Clark's appearance. Clearly his mom had words with the man. He could only imagine that conversation.  
  
But there was just no hiding it anymore. He was round. His belly jutted out like a pitcher's mound. Clark resisted the urge to try to cover his belly with a hand, which would only draw attention to his girth.  
  
"Hey, Dad."   
  
"See he could make it," Jonathan wrapped his son up in a hug and patted his back.   
  
"He wouldn’t miss it. I don't think Lex has had a real Thanksgiving since he was twelve," Clark replied. He looked back for Lex, who was strolling up as though he was the calmest, most relaxed man in the world. That probably meant that Lex was really tense.  
  
"Good evening, Mr. Kent," Lex said warmly.   
  
"Evening. Hope you boys brought your appetites. Martha's been cooking all day."  
  
"It's good of her to do all of this on her own. I could have helped," Lex told Jonathan. He slipped his hands in his pockets and smiled at them both. Clark had to bite his lip because Lex looked a little like a snake oil salesman.  
  
"Come on." Jonathan turned from them and headed into the house. Clark and Lex exchanged a look before they followed, walking closely together. The baby seemed to be nervous as well and bounced around as they entered the living room.   
  
"Um, Dad? I need to talk to you and Mom about something," Clark said trying to keep his voice even. He and Lex had discussed what they wanted to say, or rather, what Clark wanted to say. Lex had offered to take the lead, but after all of those years deferring to his father's judgment and hearing bad things about Lex, he wanted to stand up to his father. Not just for Lex, but for himself and for their child.  
  
"Oh yeah? Lemme get your mother."  
  
While his father was gone, Clark turned to Lex and ran a hand over his belly. He had to do this now instead of later, and he hoped Lex was okay with that. He couldn't sit through dinner being this nervous.  
  
"We'll be fine," Lex whispered.  
  
"Clark, what did you have to tell us? Oh, hello, Lex." Martha entered, wiping her hands. "I was hoping you'd make it."  
  
Clark met Lex's eye before he turned around to face his parents. "Mom, Dad, um…"  
  
"Sweetheart, it's alright. Whatever it is," Martha promised.  
  
Jonathan put his hands on his hips and eyed Lex. "Spit it out, son."  
  
"I'm pregnant."  
  
Both Kents stood there in confusion for quite a while. Martha looked down at Clark's midsection and rounded her lips.  
  
"Clark, you…"  
  
"You son of a bitch," Jonathan spat, looking direction at Lex.  
  
"Jonathan!" Martha exclaimed.  
  
"Just couldn't control yourself, could you?" Jonathan stepped toward him and Clark moved between them. "Fight your own battles, you coward!"  
  
"I'm not going to strike Clark's  _father_ , no matter what names you call me, Mr. Kent. This isn't about  _you_  or about  _me_. It's about  _Clark_ ," Lex said, managing to keep his temper. Barely.  
  
"Dad, please," Clark pleaded, holding up his hands. His father looked like he was about to get his shotgun.  
  
"Oh, Clark," Martha whispered suddenly. She bent over a little, covering her mouth with her hand, and a tear ran down her cheek. She couldn't take her eyes off the telltale bulge under his red sweater.  
  
"I'm okay, Mom. It's not like this is the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me," Clark joked half-heartedly.   
  
Martha nodded, closing her eyes as more tears fell. Clark couldn't tell whether she was upset or happy, so he moved to her side to embrace her.  
  
Then all at once, things got bad. Jonathan started yelling and lunged forward to slam Lex against the wall. Then Lex started to yell back.  
  
A man couldn't be perfect all the time. Clark stepped over to them to break it up.   
  
"Dad, calm down! I-" He stumbled backwards as his father's drawn-back fist popped him in the eye.  
  
"Jonathan,  _watch out_!" Martha cried a second too late.  
  
"Clark!" Lex ran to Clark's side and caught him, then held him securely. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Uh, fine."  
  
Before Clark knew it, Lex was leading him out of the house, and his mother was crying again. Jonathan grabbed Lex's arm out on the porch, and Lex whipped around and grabbed the man's collar.  
  
"I won't start a fight, Mr. Kent, but I  _will_  finish it. Now  _back off_!" Lex's voice had begun calm but ended in a roar.  
  
"Lex, it was an accident," Clark said, touching Lex's shoulder.  
  
"It is unacceptable!" Lex replied sternly.  
  
"I'd never intentionally strike my son," Jonathan argued.  
  
Martha appeared in the doorway. "Everyone, just  _calm down_. What is wrong with you, Jonathan? Our son comes here to give us this impossible, wonderful news, and you attack Lex?"  
  
"I didn't-"  
  
"Just like my father. No. Worse." Martha slipped past him and slipped her arm around Clark's shoulders. "Honey, come inside. Let me get some ice for your eye."  
  
Jonathan remained on the porch as Martha led the boys inside.  
  
Ten minutes later, Clark found himself on the sofa with an ice pack on his right eye and his feet propped up. Lex had peeled off his socks and started rubbing his feet. Martha came in with some deviled eggs and stuffed mushrooms.  
  
"Is there anything that upsets your stomach?" Martha knelt beside him.  
  
"Not anymore. I didn't have a lot of morning sickness." Clark sucked in his lip and looked at her fretfully.  
  
"Sweetheart, I'll talk to your father. It'll be fine.  _Don't_  worry about this, okay?" She pressed a kiss to Clark's cheek and offered him the hors d'oeuvres plate. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Not bad." Clark took an egg.   
  
"Mrs. Kent," Lex said.  
  
"Martha," she corrected.  
  
Lex pressed his lips together. "I'm so sorry. I know that it's hard to accept that your son… Well, we should have used protection, and I apologize."   
  
"How could you have known?" Martha said with a laugh. "Maybe you should have used protection anyway, but I can't blame you for accidentally getting Clark pregnant. If anyone, I'd…" She shrugged. "We didn't know, so you couldn't have."  
  
"Well, honestly, Martha, I don't get sick, so I wouldn't have thought to take care of it in that regard," Lex admitted.  
  
"You don't get sick?" Clark asked. He took another egg.  
  
"Not since the meteor shower. This is probably my fault."  
  
"It isn't, Lex," Clark insisted.  
  
"How could you know that?"  
  
"Because… Because I'll tell you later because. Have a deviled egg before I eat them all."  
  
"Have as many as you want." Martha rubbed Clark's shoulders and stood. "You let me know if I can get you anything. Will you be staying here or at the castle?"  
  
"Probably the castle, if you don't mind, Mom. We just… No,  _I_  need some space, if Dad's going to be nuts about this." Clark tilted his head back to look at his mother.  
  
"I can't say I don't wish that you'd told us about Lex sooner… Though I warned Jonathan this might happen about four years ago. He can hardly be  _that_  surprised." She paused and stepped over to Lex, putting her hand on his shoulder and kissed the side of his head. "Thank you for waiting. We'll work everything else out."  
  
Lex nodded. When Martha had departed, Lex moved to Clark's side and rested his head against him. Clark caressed the top of Lex's head gently.  
  
"That went better than I thought it would," Clark said. He looked down a Lex. They both smirked.  
  


***

  
  
Thanksgiving dinner should have been uncomfortably quiet, but although Jonathan didn't say much, the remaining three talked enough to drown out his silence.  
  
"Ugh, Lex, you're gonna have to roll me out of here," Clark groaned when Martha brought out the pie. Lex just laughed.  
  
"Well, if you boys want to head into the living room for a little while we can delay the pie for a little bit. I rented some movies," Martha offered.  
  
Lex rubbed Clark's back gently. "Maybe. Do you think you can stay awake?"  
  
"I can stay awake," Clark scoffed. "…Probably."   
  
"Well, if you get too tired, Clark, we'll just send you boys on. We have the entire weekend to spend together." Martha came over and petted Clark's head. "No need to wear you out."  
  
She hugged Clark from behind and kissed his cheek. "You two go ahead into the living room. Jonathan and I will clean up."  
  
"I could help," Lex offered.  
  
"No, shoo. You can help Clark," Martha insisted.  
  
Lex chuckled, and then stood and took Clark's hands to help pull him up.  
  
"You're a strong man," Clark joked.  
  
"I'd better be." Lex slipped his arm around Clark's waist and guided him into the other room. Lex sat Clark back down on the sofa and reached over to rub circles on Clark's belly. "Feeling good?"  
  
"Full, for sure. Pretty good." Clark smiled as Lex tried to pamper him.   
  
"You have the coolest mother on the planet."  
  
"Yeah. I think I do. Lex? Um. It's not you."  
  
"What's not me?" Lex's hand stopped moving. "I'm not the father?"  
  
"What? No! You're the father. You're definitely the father." Clark patted his arm and laughed. "No, it's… You said this was your fault. And you think that because the meteors affected you."  
  
"And you're saying it isn't because of that?" Lex said slowly. Clark shook his head. Lex opened and closed his eyes deliberately several times. "I need… a little more explanation than that."  
  
"That's hard to do." Clark bit his lip. "I don't have any of my powers right now."  
  
"Powers," Lex repeated numbly.  
  
"I should have told you before. I should have told you a long time ago. I just thought that since my powers were gone, than I'd changed, and I mean all of me. But I'm not human. I'm just… a Kryptonian without powers," Clark admitted, speaking quietly all the while.  
  
Lex studied Clark's face closely. "Kal-El?"  
  
"How…? Lex?" Clark's eyes bulged wide.  
  
"The aliens from the ship were looking for you."  
  
"Yeah. You met them?"  
  
"They called me that name and then threw me by the neck into a rock wall." Lex stood and began to pace back and forth. "They could still be looking for you."  
  
"Well, no. I took care of them. They probably can't get out of where they are."  
  
Lex stopped and ran a hand over his head. "You took care of them. With your powers."  
  
Clark looked up at Lex, feeling like if Lex walked out the door, walked out right now, he would have no one to blame but himself. And he wasn't sure he'd survive it after all they'd been through together.  
  
"Don't make that face," Lex whispered finally. He knelt before Clark and put his hands on the sides of Clark's belly. "You just… I need some time to think about all of this. I've spent the better part of the past six months trying to cobble together some kind of a defense against those aliens, and you're telling me that they're taken care of? The pale, black haired one and the dark skinned one? And the older one with axe blade cheekbones?"  
  
"Uh… the first two. There's this… device? And you can suck aliens into another dimension. I know that sounds crazy-"  
  
"It doesn't. I found what I suspected to be a pocket alternate dimension about a year ago. Haven't looked into it yet. It seemed dangerous." Lex rested his forehead on Clark's belly. "It's a relief those two are gone, Clark, but I don't know if that means my efforts have been in vain. The other one is still out there."  
  
"And he could still be looking for me," Clark concluded. The thought chilled him. Powerless. Pregnant. He couldn't protect himself, let alone Lex and their baby.   
  
"Kal-El," Lex said again, an uncertain, intense look playing across his face  
  
"I prefer Clark," Clark joked back. It his relief, Lex smiled a little. He pressed his cheek to Clark's belly, feeling the baby move. Clark brushed his fingers over the bump on the back of Lex's head and whispered, "There's more. What I know. When you're ready."  
  
"Definitely. It's what I've been waiting to hear."  
  
"You don't sound happy."  
  
"I… have no idea how to take care of an alien baby," Lex admitted.  
  
"Well, from my experience," Martha said as she walked into the room. "You do it pretty much like you would a human baby."  
  
Lex looked up and sat back on his heels. "Martha…"  
  
"Don’t fret, Lex. You two have us, if you have any questions, okay?"  
  
Lex nodded and moved back up to the sofa to sit beside Clark. They were both clearly unsettled, but sharing one another's warmth was familiar and soothing.  
  


***

  
  
The castle was very chilly inside, and the long shadows flickered across the two figures who moved through hand in hand.  
  
"I don’t think I've been here since…" Clark put his hand on the top of his belly.  
  
"We created out little hybrid," Lex finished. "Although it could have been the next day… Or the day after…"  
  
Clark fixed his gaze on Lex. "Don't call him that."  
  
"Sorry." Lex squeezed Clark's hand. "I might reconsider the amnio. The vast majority of chromosomal abnormalities spontaneously a- ahem. We just might want to check that out."  
  
Clark dropped Lex's hand and stared at him in the dark hallway. "What are you saying? Do you think there might be something wrong with the baby?"  
  
"I don't know. He could be fine."  
  
"You didn't seem to have a problem when you though the baby happened because of your weirdness."  
  
A shadow from outside fell across Lex's face. "I did, Clark. I just couldn't do anything about it."  
  
"And you can now?" Clark stepped back angrily. "Or is it just a bigger problem because I'm an alien?"  
  
"That's  _not_  it," Lex argued.  
  
"Then what is it? Do you think the baby's going to be a monster, or that… Do you not want it now?"  
  
"No, I just… I  _know_  my mutation! I understand it, and I can speculate what that would do to a human baby. I have  _no idea_  how my mutation would interact with extra-terrestrial DNA. Not a clue!" Lex threw his hands up in the air. "For all I know, the baby will be born unable to breathe, or worse! I don't want to worry you-"  
  
"I'm the one who's pregnant here," Clark snapped. "So if you have a worry about the baby, you need to talk to me about it. Stop pretending you can handle everything for me!"  
  
"Well! It's clear that I  _can't_." Lex rolled his shoulders and turned away. "I worry that they're still looking for you. It worries me that you're involved in this alien business at all. It worries me that I think that silver rock was sent to Lana in the first place by one of them. And perhaps the mutants before that were sent to your house to feel you out. I worry that there are more of those aliens, and I _was_  worried that they sent a sleeper agent to Earth during the first meteor shower."  
  
"You mean… me?" Clark leaned over, feeling winded.  
  
"Somehow I don't see you as a sleeper," Lex said. "I don't know what to think. I don't know what to do. I don't how to protect you."  
  
Clark drew in deep breath. He had to admit he'd been thinking the same thing earlier. He'd never thought that he'd be in a relationship where he was the one who needed protecting.  
  
"Lex, just tell me one thing. Do you have a problem with aliens? And me being one?"  
  
"Clark." Lex looked back at Clark, then moved closer to him. "You haven't changed. You're still you. Please don't mistake my efforts against the ones who want to attack us with how I feel about you. Every group of individuals has their… fringe element that they aren't proud of."  
  
"Well, there aren't a lot of us left," Clark muttered. "It's mostly the fringe group and me." He paused. "And our baby."  
  
"I think I lost track of what we're fighting about." Lex folded Clark into his arms.  
  
"Are we fighting?"  
  
"We don't have to be. Hm? I'm sorry if I was insensitive. I just don't know what to say."  
  
"You don't seem to know much of anything," Clark joked, giving Lex a smile.  
  
"No criminal mastermind," Lex replied warmly. "Let's get you guys in bed?"  
  
Clark nodded and leaned on Lex a little. If nothing changed, he might be doing that a lot over the next four months.  
  


***

  
  
Two sweaters, a heavy coat, gloves, a woolen hat, and a scarf.   
  
Clark entered the caves sweating and a little worried. Lex was probably going to kill him for this, but he had to try. He approached the table with trepidation. If nothing else, getting his powers back would help him protect his child and Lex. One thing he had learned about aliens over the past two years was that Lex wasn't wrong; they were dangerous. He would have to be dangerous enough to make sure the people he loved were safe.  
  
Pressing the octagonal disk into the table, he closed his eyes and pulled his scarf up over his face.  
  
The transport felt different as a human. He fell to his knees in the snow and yanked the scarf back to throw up violently.  
  
"S-sorry, baby." He wiped his mouth and pushed himself to his feet. He had to get into the Fortress immediately and get this done, or he and the baby might not survive at all.  
  
"J-Jor-el!" Clark chattered as he stumbled inside. "You have to give me my powers back."  
  
"I will do no such thing," the AI boomed.   
  
Clark turned his head as the entrance of the Fortress shut tight. Suddenly he felt warm air against his cheeks. Funny. He didn't even know that Jor-El could make this place more habitable. It annoyed him that it hadn't even tried to do it for Chloe. If he had, then Clark wouldn't have had to send her to the hospital and leave the Fortress to begin with.  
  
Clark curled one arm around his waist and lifted his chin defiantly. "You don't have the right to keep my powers. I need them back to protect myself. And my child. I know that all you care about is the future of Krypton, and right now, the future of Krypton is inside of me!"  
  
"You misunderstand, Kal-El. Now is not the time to return your abilities," the voice insisted. "I am well aware of the existence of your children, and thus, I altered the temperature for their benefit."  
  
"I'm not going to wait until you decide that it's… time…" Clark breathed in and out shakily and looked around the crystalline structure. He hated not having a face to talk to with Jor-El. "Their benefit? There's… more than one?"  
  
"I scanned you as you entered. You carry a boy child as well as a girl child."  
  
"I… Oh, God." Clark put his hand to his head and looked down briefly, then up again with even more determination. "I need my powers to protect them."  
  
"On the contrary, Kal-El. I do this for your own good."  
  
"Yeah, that's what you always say," Clark scoffed. He walked toward the cluster at the crystals toward the center of the Fortress. He'd only been here once, but it seemed that everything Jor-El did was 'for his own good,' from kidnapping, to torture, to brainwashing, to stripping him of his powers.  
  
"A dark force has arrived from Krypton, my son. It is looking for you, and the only reason it has not found you is that you are undetectable while powerless. I will not return your powers to you until the children have been delivered. Until then, even if you did have your powers, you could not fight it in your condition."  
  
"How do you know it won't find us?" Clark said, his voice faltering.  
  
"It is an artificial intelligence of immense power called Brainiac. It will be scanning individuals for the chemical reaction between Kryptonian cells and the solar radiation. Without your powers, you cannot have that reaction."  
  
Clark nodded solemnly. He moved over to a ledge and sat down on it.  
  
"For the moment, you will have to trust my judgment, Kal-El. The next generation must be protected at all costs."  
  
"For once, you and I agree," Clark answered.  
  
"It is critical that you do not face Brainiac without being prepared, and you cannot train while you are carrying," Jor-El continued.   
  
"I'd guess not. Twins," Clark muttered.  
  
"Our people do not generally carry physically. You must take care of yourself."  
  
Clark frowned and crooked his mouth to the side. He'd  _planned_  on taking care of himself, and didn't need an artificial pseudo-father telling him to do so. "What does that mean? Carry physically?"  
  
"Years ago our people discovered a method of using birthing matrices to gestate our children. Therefore, we were no longer required to risk our people for bearing of the children, and our children would not be affected by the green radiation emanating from the planet's core."  
  
With a nod, Clark pushed himself to his feet. "How am I going to get back? Without my powers, I can't run there."  
  
"I will transport you. Do not risk coming here again, unless you require medical treatment."  
  
"What-"  
  
Clark found himself leaning over the table in the caves and panting heavily. He'd wanted to ask the AI further questions, but he wasn't willing to go back again. The transportation was tough on him, and he needed to rest.  
  
When he felt a little steadier, he straightened up and headed for the car, feeling the baby kick his side-  
  
No. One of the babies kicking his side. He wondered which one and wished again that he could see inside himself.  
  
Clark opened the car door and picked up his cell phone, narrowing his eyes at the screen. There were several messages. He opened it up to listen to them, and then paled. "Oh, Lex."   
  
He dialed Lex's number.  
  
"Clark!" Lex exclaimed as soon as he picked up. "Where  _are_  you?"  
  
"I'll be back in ten minutes tops. I found out something we need to talk about," Clark answered, adjusting himself behind the wheel.  
  
"I'm at your parents' house. Is that any closer? Clark, I was worried sick. How did you slip out?"  
  
"Years of practice. Um… maybe a bit longer than that."  
  
"Can I come get you?"  
  
"No, Lex, I'll make it. Just sit tight, okay?"  
  
"Clark, please don't leave again."   
  
Clark buckled his seat belt and made sure the strap was secured under his belly. "I'm coming back. Don't worry."  
  
"Impossible."  
  
"I don’t want to talk while I'm driving. See you in a few, okay?"  
  
"I love you, Clark."  
  
Clark felt his eyes sting when he realized that, despite how Lex showed it to Clark daily, this was the first time Lex had ever said it out loud. "Love you too."  
  
He hung up and wiped his wet cheeks before he headed out.  
  


***

  
  
Clark had never seen Lex run like that, and as he stepped out of the car, Lex's arms were instantly around him and leading him inside.   
  
"You're overreacting. I'm okay!" Clark protested.  
  
"You shut it, young man," Lex ordered.   
  
Biting his lip so not to laugh, Clark did as he was told. He let Lex settle him on the sofa, and once again, his mother was by his side. This time, Jonathan was right by them, looking just as concerned.  
  
"You had us all scared, Clark," Jonathan told him seriously.  
  
"You can't go running off like that! You have to think of the baby," Martha insisted, rubbing his back.  
  
"Mom, that's what I was  _doing_." Clark squeezed Lex's hand and looked to his parents. "I went to see Jor-El."  
  
The Kents looked at one another, their eyes bulging.  
  
"Who's Jor-El?" Lex asked.  
  
"My biological father. I wanted to get my powers back to protect us." Clark sighed and leaned into Lex. "Obviously, I didn't. I learned a few things, though. I'll tell you all about it later. In the morning, maybe. Um. There's one thing you need to know now, though."  
  
He took Lex's hand and pressed it to his belly.  
  
"A boy," he whispered. When a smile lit up Lex's face, Clark continued. "And a girl."  
  
Lex's overwhelmed and overjoyed expression was just too much. Clark had to kiss Lex, parents or no, over and over.


	4. Chapter 4

**December**  
  
"Whoa. Hey. Are you smuggling a ham in there?" Charlie asked as he stepped into their room.  
  
"Shut up, pumpkinhead," Clark grumbled, tugging his sweater over his belly stubbornly.   
  
Charlie just laughed at Clark's retaliation.  
  
Clark had a study session at the library in ten minutes, and he couldn't find anything to wear. It wasn't his fault the twins had decided to have a growth spurt this week. How embarrassing. He should have taken Lex up on getting some new clothes before he needed them. He leaned over his dresser and searched for some sweats.   
  
"Damn." Charlie shook his head and stare at Clark's swollen belly. "Hang on, man."  
  
Clark grumbled into his throat. With a hand under his belly, he eased himself down onto his bed. Somehow he was going to survive finals.  _Somehow_.  
  
"Try on these." Charlie returned and tossed a pair of jeans at Clark.   
  
Clark opened them up and gaped at how big they were. Well. Big enough for him. "Thanks," he muttered. "Where'd you get these?"  
  
"Yanked 'em from Dave down the hall. He's got a beer gut to rival yours," Charlie said bluntly. "Of course, he's always been a chub."  
  
Clark looked back at Charlie then pulled up the pair of jeans. They were actually a little big for him still. Nice to know that someone else in the world was fatter than him. He pulled the sweater over the waistband and called it a day.  
  
"Don't worry about it. I was a fat kid in high school," Charlie said loudly. Clark rolled his eyes, but Charlie seemed determined to continue. "You were a rail this summer. I bet it's glandular or something. You should go to the health center and see someone."  
  
Clark pushed himself up, praying that he'd go deaf any time now so he wouldn't have to listen to anyone else talking about how fat he was.  
  
"Well, that or you're pregnant!" Charlie laughed heartily.  
  
 _Jackass._  Clark forced a laugh as well and picked up the books he'd need for the study session. The history final would be pretty intense. He was tired, but somehow he was going to have to push through. He hadn't decided if he was going to even try to continue next semester. He was enormous already, and he needed to keep off the radar until he got his powers back. He stuffed some packages of crackers and raisins in the front of his messenger bag because the twins would get hungry before they had a break for dinner.  
  
"See you later," Clark said, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.   
  
"Take care, farmboy," Charlie called.  
  
Clark hurried for the elevator and once inside leaned against the wall. One more week. One more week, then finals, and then he could spend the holiday break at the castle with Lex and see his parents whenever he wanted. He hadn't realized how much he would miss them. He especially wanted his mom around right now.  
  
His eyes closed as he felt himself slowly sinking to the floor. "Uh…"  
  
He let himself hit the bottom and waited for a minute. Then he got out his phone to call Chloe.   
  
"Uh, hey."  
  
"Where are you, Clark?"  
  
"On the floor of the elevator. I need a hand."  
  
"Do you feel okay?" Chloe had dealt with the news that her best friend was pregnant with twins remarkably well. In fact, Clark had suspected she'd figured that out on her own, but chosen not to confront him on it.  
  
"I do. I just went down all of a sudden. Uh." Clark looked up as the elevator opened on his floor again, and Charlie started to enter. He stopped and stared at Clark for a moment.  
  
"Clark?" Chloe asked. "You there? I'm on my way."   
  
"Takin' a nap, Chunk?" Charlie reached down and grabbed Clark's hand.  
  
"Ugh!" Clark's eyes flickered up and down as he felt embarrassment wash over him. At least he was on his feet. "It's okay, Chlo. I'm up."  
  
"How about you wait for me anyway?" Chloe insisted. "I'll be there in two minutes."  
  
"I…" Clark sighed when she hung up and put his phone in his pocket. "Charlie-"  
  
"Are you gonna be around next semester? I know you don’t want to talk about your health, but fainting all over the place isn't really good," Charlie said as he pushed the button for the lobby.  
  
"I don't know yet. I didn't  _faint_. I just…" Clark shrugged.  
  
"Stick close," Charlie ordered when the doors opened. Charlie walked with him to the bench outside. "Feelin' okay?"  
  
"Yeah." Clark set his bag down on the bench and looked at Charlie.   
  
"Girlfriend's coming to get ya?" Charlie leaned against the building and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.   
  
Clark stepped back. "She's not my girlfriend."  
  
Charlie shrugged and lit up. "Mind if I take a crack at her?"  
  
"I don’t think she's into smokers."  
  
"Is that a hint? Don't want me to smoke around your baby?" Charlie joked.  
  
"Don't be a jerk, Charlie."  
  
"Sorry, man. You're too easy to rile. Take care of yourself, okay? If you don't come back." Charlie dipped his head and blew his smoke in the other direction.  
  
"Well, if I don't, I have a lot of people willing to help me out on that." Clark slipped his hands into his pockets. "I kind of want to come back, but next semester doesn’t look good. I could make it to maybe March, and then I'd have to take off. What's the point in going halfway?"  
  
"You could take a semester. People do it. Come back for summer classes and be caught up, credit wise," Charlie suggested. He rested his head on the bricks and looked up at the sky. "Let's plan on it. I'm sure there's some courses we could knock out together. Core shit."  
  
"Maybe." Clark grinned softly. He turned his head as he heard the horn of Lex's Lamborghini. Sure enough, Lex was running up the hill.  
  
"Chloe said you fainted," Lex said as he rushed up to them.  
  
"I didn't faint. How did you get here so fast?" Clark let Lex hug him and smiled.  
  
"I was already in this part of town." Lex seemed to be fighting the urge to rub his tummy, which Clark appreciated. He'd suffered enough embarrassment for the day.  
  
Charlie leaned his head to the side as he watched them. "Who's this?"  
  
"My girlfriend," Clark replied dryly.  
  
Charlie shook his head. "Maaan. Now I lost fifty bucks to McAllister!"  
  
"You were betting on me?" Clark huffed in indignation.  
  
"McAllister called you the first day in Preview. I said no way. He said you were too pretty for girls."  
  
Lex snatched the cigarette, dropped it, and ground it with his foot. "Some of us don't appreciate the second hand smoke."  
  
"Okay, okay." Charlie shook his head and held up his hands.  
  
"I'll get you to the library, okay?" Lex rubbed Clark's shoulder and picked up his book bag.  
  
"See you, Charlie. And uh… you know you don't lose your fifty dollars until you tell someone," Clark told his roommate as they headed towards Lex's car. "You'll get a ticket if you park in the library parking lot."  
  
Lex rolled his eyes. "I'll take the parking ticket. How are my kids?"  
  
"Making me tired," Clark groaned.   
  
Lex rubbed his back. "I'm proud of you for sticking this semester out."  
  
"I hate this," Clark muttered.  
  
"Hate what?" Lex frowned. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."  
  
"No, I hate… I don't want to drop out."  
  
"You don't have to." Lex opened the door for Clark and helped him down.  
  
"I can't waddle around the campus until March."   
  
Lex shrugged and got into the driver's seat. "You can do what you want to, Clark."  
  
"No, I can't. Lex, you don't know how tired I get, and…" Clark sighed heavily.   
  
"I will make  _certain_  that you can do whatever you want with your life. You don't have to give up everything. We're in this together, remember?" Lex patted Clark's leg. "If you think you'll have to pull out next semester, then we'll do that, and you'll go back."  
  
"Yeah." Clark folded his hands on his belly and closed his eyes. When they reached the library, Lex woke him with a kiss and took him inside.  
  


***

  
  
"My brain can't handle any more," Clark grumbled a few days later. He sat next to Chloe at a round table at the Union, rubbing the side of his belly and wishing finals week were over already.  
  
"Two more finals," Chloe said as though trying to pump herself up. She pushed a plate of curly fries toward Clark.  
  
Clark took a fry, widened his eyes, and blinked several times. "I have to get at least a 75 on my history test. I'm good in comp class. I've already shown a draft to my teacher."  
  
"Way to go." Chloe shoved both of her hands in her hair and shook her head. "I'm so glad I tested out of that. Not that it wouldn't be the best learning experience ever, but I have enough to do."  
  
A high voice carried over the faint buzz of the students. "Hey, girl!"  
  
Chloe looked up. "Adam!"  
  
A tall man with a long face and slightly feminine lips came up to the table and leaned on it. His hair was long and blond and pulled into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked tensely.  
  
Adam shrugged and pushed some silky hair out of his eyes. "I just thought I'd say hello."  
  
"Yeah." Chloe frowned at him. "This is my friend, Clark."  
  
"Sup, Clark." Adam pursed his lips to the side and raised his brows as he offered Clark a hand to shake. "I'm Chloe's editor. Not the chief, but… yeah."  
  
"I took this week off," Chloe pointed out.  
  
"Just  _relax_ ," Adam said, talking a seat. "I just wanted to see you."  
  
Chloe's lips disappeared into a line as she watched him.  
  
"Fry?" Clark offered.  
  
"Oh, God no." Adam's eyes bulged slightly, and he looked up. "Straight to my ass. What's on the agenda for today?"  
  
"Calc final tonight. History final tomorrow. Then I'm free," Chloe announced, throwing her hand into the air.  
  
"Yeah? Then maybe a celebration?" Adam suggested. "College wasn't so long ago for me. I remember how rough it was."   
  
Clark noticed that Adam had the tendency to draw his words out, and curl his upper lip a little as he spoke.  
  
"I don't know, Adam," Chloe said softly, looking at her milkshake.  
  
"Not just you and me. Your friend too, if Clark wants to come. Tanner and Avril will be done with finals too. It can be a big… friendly… hooray for interns office thing."  
  
Chloe stared at him for a moment. "Office thing," she repeated firmly.  
  
Adam's eyes went half-hooded, and he pressed his lips together in a wide smile. "That's all I'm askin'."  
  
"That's all you're getting," Chloe sang back.  
  
"Cool. See you kids later. I've got a deadline." Adam stood.  
  
"There's this invention. You may have heard of it," Chloe teased, leaning on her hand. "Called the  _phone_."  
  
"Doesn't work when a girl screens her calls."   
  
Adam bopped her nose with one finger. Chloe laughed as he walked away. Clark's brows raised as he saw the man's firm rounded ass filling out his jeans. He closed his eyes and quickly thought of Lex's ass.  
  
"That guy's…"  
  
"Full of himself?"  
  
"I was going to say interesting. He likes you."  
  
"And who could resist the cock?" Chloe replied dryly. She shrugged. "He's not always so… But he's my boss. The end."  
  
"Such a good girl." Clark took another fry. "And that  _ass_."  
  
"Don't mention it. He's so sensitive about that." Chloe tilted her head and looked in the direction of Adam's retreating form. "But he does look nice leaving."  
  
Clark laughed.  
  


***

  
  
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Clark smiled up at his mother making as many cookies as she possibly could manage. She set a large plate out in the sitting room where Clark was arranging gifts. She and his father had agreed to come over to the castle for Christmas celebrations so that Clark wouldn't have to move around too much between locations.  
  
It was funny how the scare at Thanksgiving had miraculously caused Jonathan to lessen his hostility towards Lex by about 30%. Perhaps seeing how much Lex cared for Clark and the twins had done the trick.  
  
Lex entered the room wearing a plum sweater and a pair of black slacks. He set his drink aside an curled up behind Clark., kissing the young man's neck and hooking his chin over his shoulder.   
  
"Mm." Lex's breath was warm against Clark's neck.  
  
"Mm, yourself. I didn't realize you were a Christmas person," Clark teased.  
  
"Honestly, I usually just work on Christmas Eve. I don't tend to celebrate holidays. Not Thanksgiving, Christmas, not even my birthday."  
  
"You out-scrooge Scrooge. I'd hate for you to be out there working right now. What if something happened?" Clark gave him a tender kiss and placed Lex's hands on his sides.  
  
Their little boy and girl were bouncing around from the sugar in the cookies.  
  
 **January**    
  
It was hard being home when he should have been returning to school with his friends. Instead Clark had signed up for two online classes to keep his scholarship. Clark understood his own body precious little, but he knew that he needed to slow down quite a bit. Getting around was harder. Hiding the baby belly was harder, and being away from Lex was much harder.  
  
Furthermore, his worries about this "Brainiac" weren't diminished because Jor-El said that it couldn't find him, just because he didn't have his powers.   
  
Lex's weren't either, obviously. Late into the night, Lex would work on his files, all the information he was collecting on the aliens. Sometimes Clark would sit in with him and look at it. Sometimes Clark didn't know Lex was in there until he got up in the middle of the night to relieve his bladder.  
  
"Come to bed," Clark whispered outside of Lex's office. He waited a little while for Lex to come to him. He would notice, then rise and greet Clark with a kiss and a belly rub—he was good at those—and then Lex would see Clark back to bed. But he wouldn't necessarily sleep himself.   
  
 **February**  
  
Although Clark continued to labor under the delusion that Lex should be disgusted by his immense girth, whenever they were together, Lex seemed to be unable to keep his hands off of him.  
  
At the end of the day, Lex approached Clark, looking wearied himself from his work: both as CEO and alien hunter. Sometimes he would answer Clark's questions regarding the latter, but sometimes he would answer with a kiss, then climb over Clark and gently begin to move his hands over Clark's body, caressing and adoring every curve.  
  
Some days, Clark would doze by the television and wake with Lex nuzzling his neck, hand over his burgeoning belly. He would smile and curl into Lex's touches, and they would cuddle together watching whatever Clark wanted to watch.  
  
Clark knew he was being spoiled, but he saw Lex's face whenever he huffed or winced. He saw the love barely restrained in Lex's eyes as he took Clark's hands to pull him to his feet.  
  
Clark thought that he perhaps fell more and more in love with this man every day.  
  
One day, despite everything, Clark felt the need to leave the loft. Though a grand loft it was, with plenty of extra rooms, a spacious kitchen, and three floors with an indoor pool, Clark felt that he need to get out at least once. He couldn't do so for long. Lex massaged his feet often at night and noted that Clark should be trying to take it easy, but he had a hard time telling Clark no right now.  
  
So off they went.  
  
With Lex driving, Clark patted his side and talked to the twins a little as they road through the city. He closed his eyes and let the sun soak into him. Although it wouldn't recharge his powers right now, it felt good to be out.  
  
"Not too cold?" Lex asked with concern. "I can put the top up."  
  
"Mmm. No. I love it."  
  
"You've been so good. I can't deny you a little time off for good behavior." Lex smiled and squeezed Clark's hand. "Are they enjoying the fresh air?"  
  
"I swear, sometimes, I think you wish you were pregnant."  
  
"No, I much prefer the privilege of being the Daddy. You have my undying respect, however, for going through all of this," Lex added.  
  
"It's not so bad, now. It was rough at first, but I'm rolling with it. Not long now, anyway."  
  
"Yes," Lex whispered.  
  
"They love the fresh air, by the way."   
  
Lex beamed.  
  
 **March**  
  
"I might pop one of these days," Clark grumbled. He was reclining in a large blue chair in front of the television, sitting in it sideways with one leg curled up so that he could work with his laptop sitting on the ottoman. Since he had no lap to speak of.  
  
He'd been due two days ago.  
  
Chloe sucked on the end of her pen and looked up at him.  
  
"Unless I really  _am_  going to be pregnant forever."  
  
"How much longer does Lex think it'll be?" Chloe asked tentatively.  
  
Clark released a long sigh. "He did an ultrasound yesterday. Lily's lungs aren't developed yet. She needs more time."  
  
"Oh." Chloe crooked her mouth sideways and frowned. "Well, if she needs more time, she needs more time. How does Konstantine look?"   
  
"Kon could probably use a few more weeks, too. He's bigger than her, though."  
  
"That's not uncommon with twins. Or so I've heard."  
  
Clark sighed again and leaned over to answer a few more questions on this online test. At least he could get stupid core classes out of the way while he was being bored and huge. "I appreciate you hanging out with me, Chloe."  
  
"It's not a chore." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Besides, what do I do but work? I'm glad you still invite me over. My roommate does nothing but whine about how her bestie has gotten married and won't do anything without the guy's permission."  
  
"His… permission? That's insane." Clark shook his head. Granted, he had his own control freak to worry about, but he'd never had to ask Lex for permission for anything. "Well, I seem to remember someone reminding me that my entire life shouldn’t revolve around my significant other."  
  
"I know. I just… with kids, too. I guess even then, we'll find time for each other."  
  
"Priorities. Oof. Stop kicking my bladder, Kon." Clark put his hands on the sides of the chair and braced himself before rocking back and forward to push himself up. Chloe sprung up and offered him a hand.  
  
"How do you know it's Kon?"  
  
"I don't." Clark laughed and stretched his back before waddling out of the room. When he returned, Lex was there bearing Chinese food. Clark accepted his help easing back into his chair. "God, you must love me. I was craving those eggrolls."  
  
"Actually, I was too," Lex admitted. When Clark was more or less comfortable, Lex unpacked the bag and set a few containers aside. "Chloe went down to the entrance to talk to a friend of hers. Her boss, I think. She'll be back in a minute."  
  
He dipped an eggroll in the sauce and fed Clark, who rolled his eyes back and groaned deep in his throat. Lex chuckled and took a bite himself, rubbing the large mound of Clark's belly happily.  
  
When Chloe returned, she laughed. Lex was holding a piece of orange beef up to Clark's mouth with his chopsticks, grinning slightly.   
  
"Cuuute," she said, taking her seat.  
  
"How's work?" Lex asked as Clark chewed blissfully.  
  
"Um, interesting. Adam's transferring over to the sports section for a little while," Chloe opened the container that was marked with her name and took a pair of chopsticks.  
  
"Oh yeah?" Clark looked up. "So you two could-"  
  
"Apparently Adam likes sports. Mostly football, but I didn't know that." Chloe tried her shrimp with garlic noodles.  
  
"Come on, Chloe. I have very limited entertainment here," Clark told her. "Are you going to go out with him?"  
  
"I don't know. I've been trying not to think about it until today. Maybe," she replied, then took a sip of her drink.  
  
"Well, no need to rush things. It's all fun and games until you get your boyfriend pregnant," Lex said offhandedly.  
  
"You're happy. You're thrilled you got me pregnant," Clark accused.  
  
"It was my evil master plan all along," Lex confessed. "Get you big and pregnant, and you'll be at my mercy."  
  
"Too bad for you, it's the other way around, hm?" Clark held his side as he laughed and opened his mouth again for delicious Chinese.  
  
Lex grinned as he dutifully fed Clark more. "Think about it. We can double with you, if you're uncomfortable at first. Of course, we'd have to wait a month or so."  
  
"I appreciate it. I'll let you know what I'm thinking." Chloe leaned back on the sofa and smiled at the two cutest men in the world.  
  


***

  
  
"Ow!" Clark gasped and leaned over.   
  
Lex's eyes, of course, went as wide as plates, and he rushed over to the tub to give Clark a steadying hand. "Are you…?"  
  
"No. I just got… nudged. In the ribs. That hurt." Clark forced a smile.  
  
Lex trailed his fingers around Clark's face and gave him a kiss. "It won't be too much longer. I promise."  
  
"Do you? For all you know, Kryptonians could take two years to gestate!"  
  
"Somehow I suspect you wouldn't be as big as you are already if you had another year to go."  
  
"I'm probably just fat." Clark knew he was being difficult, but at the moment he didn't care.  
  
"No," Lex said firmly, rubbing one hand over Clark's belly. He began to unbutton his white work shirt. Clark reached up to help him with the shirt, and he smiled when Lex kicked off his shoes and began to unbuckle his pants.  
  
"Aren't you gonna give me a little show?" Clark teased.  
  
"Hm. Maybe I should. You deserve a little something." Lex turned away from Clark, which earned him a 'boo,' until he dropped his pants and began to fluidly undulate his hips.  
  
"Ahh…" Clark's brows shot up.   
  
Lex looked over his shoulder and as he kicked away his pants, he began to come forward. Then he began moving his hips again, stretching up, grinding and dancing.  
  
Clark blew air out of his lips and shook his head. "Have mercy!"  
  
"There's more than one appetite for me to take care of, I think," Lex murmured as he climbed into the tub.  
  


***

  
  
"I love the nursery, sweetheart," Martha crooned. "It's very cheerful."  
  
She leaned against her son and looked at the decorations. Lex had stated that the nursery was ultimately Clark's call, as the person carrying the children, so he would stay out of it. A decision he may have now been regretting, but other than raising a brow, he had declined to comment. Clark had decorated the nursery in bright red and blue.  
  
"I didn't want them to have to be color coded. I don't really like pink anyway. If Lily does when she's older, then that'll be up to her," Clark conceded. He traced one of the red bunnies that followed the blue along the wall.   
  
"Wise decision. Children will be who they decide to be," Martha said with a nod.  
  
"How's Dad coming with all of this? I haven't seen much of him."  
  
"Better and better. He's trying. I'll give him that. If he ever pops you one again, though-"  
  
"Mom, that was an accident."  
  
"Lex might put a hit out on him. I've never seen Lex that angry. Not even when he was practically at war with his father," Martha finished.  
  
"He is really protective." Clark slowly moved over to the crib. They had put in the babies' room on the top floor with their bedroom and moved Lex's office downstairs. Clark thought that, in addition to having the twins close to them at night, it would give Lex the space he needed to work or brood. Though Clark hadn't mentioned that last part to Lex.  
  
Surely, Clark couldn’t be blamed for trying to protect Lex as well.  
  
Martha rubbed Clark's back for a few minutes and went with him to the kitchen, which had a long bar with stools along the edges. Sometimes they ate there instead of in the dining room. Martha went to make them some tea and a snack.  
  
"Clark, honey, if I won't be in the way, I thought I might visit until the babies are born." She turned and placed a plate of fruit and cheese in front of Clark. "It's not that I don't think you can do it without me, of course, it's just… You’re my only son, and I worry…"  
  
"Mom, we'd love to have you. I'll ask Lex, but I really doubt he'll mind. He never wants me to be alone as it is." Clark took a grape and popped it in his mouth.   
  
Martha smiled and petted the back of Clark's hair. "He really is a good boy, under that suit, isn't he?"  
  
"You tell him that. He won't listen to me."  
  
Martha chuckled and fetched the tea.  
  
 **April**  
  
Consequences. Causality. Events occur, which cause other events. Cause begets cause begets cause, and ultimately, an inevitable, wondrous result.  
  
To say Clark had a bit of a low threshold of pain from a life of never having felt it would be an understatement. When the contractions finally started, Clark curled over, thinking that  _surely_  he must be dying. Lex would have to raise the twins on his own, and hopefully, Brainiac wouldn't find them.   
  
Amazingly enough, when he was still alive a few hours later, and Lex had informed work that he would be indisposed for an indeterminate amount of time (and to bother him at risk of unemployment or perhaps death), Clark realized why his people had gotten rid of childbirth.  
  
Clark huffed, he cried, he walked, he crawled, he squatted. Lex rubbed his belly, and his legs, and his back. He applied as much pressure against Clark's back as he could when Clark asked for it, and he left the room when Clark told him to get out.  
  
In the end, Clark panted, laying against Lex and squeezing his hand tightly. He was beyond caring that his legs were spread wide open, and Lex was no longer offering to resort to surgery or drugs to save Clark from having to go through this. Martha's expert hands moved around one slick head of red hair, freed narrow shoulders, took a wet, floppy baby into her arms.  
  
"She's out, Clark," Lex whispered into the ear of the love of his life. "She's out."  
  
When Clark saw Lex holding her, he didn't fucking care when the contractions started again.  
  


***

  
  
It took Clark longer than he'd expected to recover. His abdomen was still squishy, for example, and he was pretty sore all over. Still, Kon and Lily were right there. Right there for him to see, and most everything else melted away in light of seeing their chubby little faces.  
  
Lily was a charmer. She cooed at anyone who would pick her up.   
  
Kon was shier, but sleepier. While Lily would keep her eyes open as long as she could, afraid that she'd miss something, Kon was content to save exploration for another day, if he got tired.  
  
The first few weeks were a blur of rocking, singing, feeding, and changing. Lex was with him there most of the time, and when he wasn't, he was working. Clark was pretty sure that as little as he was sleeping, Lex was sleeping less, ever on his quest to save the world, and even more so that he had two children implicated in the fight. So Clark was glad that his mother had stuck around to help out. Otherwise neither of them would have ever slept.  
  
Still, there was little else more precious than watching Lex stare in confusion at a fresh diaper as he held a chunky thigh aloft in one hand, trying to remember how this complex device worked.  
  
 **May**  
  
"What…" Clark rubbed his eyes as he woke up to Lex bringing him a tray with a single lily on it and a hearty breakfast. "You know, I am trying to get back in shape, eventually."  
  
"Not today." Lex sat on the edge of the bed. "Today, you guys all have me. No work. No research. Just you and the twins. I told Martha to take a break."  
  
Clark licked his lips and took a bite of his stuffed French toast. "So what's today?"  
  
"Mother's Day."  
  
Clark looked up at him, licking his lips. "If I weren't so tired…"  
  
"Hm. I'll take my appreciation in kisses." Lex leaned over and rubbed their noses together.  
  
 **June**  
  
Lily was the easiest baby to please in the world, Clark decided as he wandered through the bookstore with Chloe by his side and Lily in the purple Snugli on his chest. He didn't like to be away from either of them, but it was easier to go out for an hour with just one of them, and Clark wanted to ensure that Lex got some quality time with each of the twins as well.  
  
And Lily just liked to look at things. She rarely fussed because she was too busy  _looking at things_  to notice she was hungry.  
  
Clark would have sworn that Lily came straight from Lex. She even started arching her eyebrow before Kon did.  
  
"Hey! Baby!" Adam exclaimed as the two ran into him in front of the nonfiction. "Who… had a baby?"  
  
Clark laughed softly. "She's mine and Lex's. It's a lot of details. Long story short, she and her brother are the newest addition to our family."  
  
"Yeah? You look great. I mean, tired, but hey, babies right?" Adam crossed his arms and looked down at Chloe, who was perusing the back cover of a book. "How's tricks?"  
  
She put the book away. "Not bad. Alice is a helpful mentor. Not as good as you, but she can actually give a complement, which is good for my ego."  
  
"Hey, I can be a total bitch off the clock, if you want me to still look at your work," Adam offered.  
  
"Free of charge?" Chloe joked. She looked up apologetically. "Maybe. It's been a crazy year. And proves to get crazier."  
  
"Well. If the crazy diminishes, let me know." Adam looked over to the baby. "What's her name?"  
  
"Lily." Clark looked at her face. She seemed fascinated. "She's entranced by the new blur in front of her."  
  
"Looks really inquisitive. I didn't know babies were so expressive," Adam said, watching her face.  
  
"I didn't either, honestly. If my mom weren't staying with us, I'd probably have collapsed in exhaustion and confusion by now." Clark held one of her little hands.   
  
Adam curled a lip up and shrugged his head to the side. "Yeah, I dunno if I could handle it. I have a job, and that's pretty fascinating as far as I'm concerned."  
  
Chloe laughed. "You think that's pretty much the limit?"  
  
"I think… when I was your age, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to hold a job, so… yeah." Adam scratched the back of his head. "Good seeing you, both. And you."  
  
Adam held his finger out to Lily, who cooed and waved her little hand at the finger.  
  
"You'll catch one someday, hon," Adam told her. Then he waved to the both of them and went on his business.  
  
Clark looked down at her with a frown. Chloe pointed at Clark. "Just because you're married with children doesn't mean we're all ready to settle down."  
  
"You couldn't go on a date with him?"   
  
"Quit it. Maybe… Sometime soon. Honestly, I thought he was up to something at first. He never  _pushed_ , but I really didn't know what to think about the attention. I can't tell the difference between joking around and flirting."  
  
"I think transferring to another section kind of means that it's flirting. You could just go for coffee and see what happens. Lex and I didn't start with the babies, you know. We started as friends." Clark hugged Chloe's shoulders.   
  
"I've never really dated. I don't know how this works," Chloe protested.   
  
"Neither do I. Lucky for me, I met my soulmate when I was three."  
  
Chloe narrowed her eyes at him. "Lucky so-and-so."  
  
Clark just laughed.  
  


***

  
  
Although Clark didn't have the time or the wherewithal to sign up for summer classes, he did shoot Charlie an email (addressed to Pumpkinhead) giving him the official version of where the twins came from (anonymous surrogates), and asked him what core classes he'd be taking in the fall when Clark guessed he'd be able to come back.  
  
Charlie responded saying that he should have known it was twins, considering how quickly Clark had blown up, but McAllister still didn't know he owed him fifty dollars.  
  
Clark could tell that Charlie still thought he was joking, and wondered if he'd put the pieces together when he saw the twins themselves.   
  
Regardless, Clark resolved to pinch Charlie's love handles when he got back to school.  
  


***

  
  
"You don't have to do this."  
  
"I want to. It is Father's Day after all."  
  
"But you did most of the work."  
  
"Maybe. But you were always there."  
  
"Ahh…"  
  
"Just enjoy the hot tub, Lex. And brace yourself."  
  
"Ahh!"  
  
 **July**    
  
Clark felt his powers starting to come back.   
  
First it was his increased stamina. After that, his strength began to return, and his metabolism sped up so fast that within the week he had his washboard abs back, and the stretch marks were nearly invisible.  
  
Clark held Kon to his chest, rocking the baby slowly and watching his sister, who was clapping and working her little mouth. Clark reached out to rub her belly, and she made a soft squeal. He was certain she'd start mimicking words before Kon did. She seemed determined to take on the world. Kon snuggled into Clark's chest, rooting around for lunch.  
  
A year ago, he had been without his powers and subsequently without a direction of any kind. He hadn't realized how much of himself he'd been denying by wanting to be human. Now, he didn't deny the humans their world, their culture, and their lives. Certainly not. Clark realized now that part of him, although no physical part, would always be human. He'd been raised here, and his children would be raised here. Lex, Clark's partner in love, life, parenthood, and everything else, was more human that Lex himself even believed. This wasn't something to be eschewed or sneered at.  
  
However, his Kryptonian heritage provided him with a destiny. Not the one that Jor-El insisted that he follow. Nor one that Lionel had argued that Lex carve for himself. But rather, it was a path that, when the two of them, Clark and Lex, had come together, was nearly inevitable. And unstoppable.  
  
Lex came into the nursery holding a file for Clark to look at. No doubt regarding their mutual effort to do something ethically responsible about the errant aliens and mutants. He set it aside to come put his arms around Clark and kiss Kon's soft black hair.  
  
If Brainiac came for their family, then it would be sorry it had ever come to Earth.


End file.
